Florence Charterhouse

The Florence Charterhouse crowns Monte Acuto, a hill on the southern edge of Florence where the Ema and Greve rivers meet, and its long mass of walls, loggias and roofs gives it the air of a small fortified town. It was founded in 1341 by Niccolò Acciaiuoli, a Florentine banker who rose to be Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples, and was almost finished when he died in 1365. He meant it not only as a Carthusian monastery but as a place of learning, with his own palace attached.

The complex grew over two centuries. The Palazzo Acciaiuoli, designed for the founder's retreats, was only completed in the sixteenth century; the church of San Lorenzo, begun in 1341 and consecrated in 1394, received its stone façade from Giovanni Fancelli in 1556. The great cloister, built between 1491 and 1520, is lined with the monks' cells and decorated with sixty-six glazed terracotta medallions of prophets, apostles and saints made by Giovanni della Robbia's workshop in 1520–23. In the crypt lies the tomb of Niccolò Acciaiuoli, possibly by Orcagna, and the funerary monument of Cardinal Angelo Acciaiuoli, long attributed to Donatello but probably by Francesco da Sangallo.

The greatest treasures are Pontormo's frescoes of the Passion, painted in 1523–25 for the cloister, where weather damaged them; they were detached in 1952 and now hang in the picture gallery in the upper floor of the palace. The complex, with its private cells set around a shared community space, inspired Le Corbusier in his urban projects. Cistercian monks took over from the Carthusians in 1958, and since 2017 the Comunità di San Leolino has cared for the complex.

Getting there

The charterhouse stands in the Galluzzo district within the city of Florence, about 4 km from Scandicci south of the historic centre. Florence Airport, Peretola (FLR) is about 9 km away.