Guided tour of the Certosa di Pavia

CERTOSA DI PAVIA:
(full day trip)

A few kilometres away from the city of Pavia stands the monastery of the city’s charter house, or Certosa. This magnificent complex was commissioned by Gian Galeazzo Visconti and was built as a private chapel and family mausoleum. The building works, entrusted to the most famous architects and artists of the time, began towards the end of the 1300s, in the late Gothic period. The building only took on its rich Renaissance appearance in the second half of the fifteenth century. The façade of the Certosa di Pavia, built by overlapping simple rectangles, is covered with decorations typical of Lombard architecture. To the right of the transept stands the tomb of the founder, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, while to the left lies that of Ludovico il Moro and his wife Beatrice d’Este. The two cloisters where life at the monastery once unfolded are also very evocative. Short photo stop at the end of the guided tour, then return to the hotel.