edited by Dave

In 1341 it came to the light the Chartreuse in Florence, the founder Niccolò Acciaiuoli, to the epoch lord of Florence, decided the construction of it to unite in an only place of culture and faith, the young Florentines that desired to undertake the humanistic studies. The Chartreuse rises on the top of a hill, distant some kilometer from the Tuscan chief town, the position allows it to check from the tall one the surrounding countries, the silence and the solitary place they are like it master. The monastic complex is formed from different buildings: the church, the sacristy, the refectory, the capitular room, the cloisters, the shops and the residences of the monks and the converged ones. In the period of its maximum shine the Chartreuse entertained at the most 18 monks of seclusion and 5 converged brothers.

The monks of seclusion lived in small apartments, to whose inside spent big part of their existence in complete meditation. Them it was permitted to only go out in some precise moments, for the Sunday lunch with the other monks, for the prayer and for the interview a hour a week. The apartments of the monks were composed from a room lunch, with fireplace and small dispensation, a room, a bath, a wine cellar and a small garden. The meals had served from their brothers converged through a situated counter next to the door of the cell, to avoid that the monks interrupted their seclusion. As says before, the Sunday all the monks gathered themselves in the refectory to eat together everybody, during the meal it was named to rotation an orator that from the tall one of a pulpit read parts of the Gospel.

The weekly time of conversation and recreation it developed in the "parlatory", a work still today to admire to date back to years 1500-1600 completely in wood. The converged brothers were to the service of the monks of seclusion, besides this them principal activities, had to deal to maintain in order the Chartreuse, to take care of the gardens, to clean all the buildings, to prepare the meals, could amuse in the brief moments of "little job" in the cloister to double order of columns. The church of St. Lawrence goes up again to Three hundred, in the XVI century. It was widened for being able to entertain to its inside the whole religious community, the choir it was formed from 18 seats in wood carved with faces of angel. Another important building is the Building Acciaiuoli, where preserved is the Pinacoteca, in which works of

art are guarded of absolute relief as the five frescos that the Scenes of the Passion represent, realized by the Pontormo (1523-1525), period during which he sojourned in the Chartreuse to escape the plague that was exploded in Florence. The Interview, building with glass door of the XVI sec. it is visitable, as also the small cloister of the monks, the Capitular room and the tomb plate in marble of the prior Leonardo Buonafede realized by Francis by Sangallo in 1545. The most fascinating part is the great cloister, adorned by 66 busts in terra-cotta, represented characters of the ancient Will, the Apostles and the Evangelists, work realized by Giovanni of the Robbia.

Dal 1958 la Certosa di Firenze è un luogo di fede, gestito dai monaci cistercensi, ancora oggi i monaci stessi si occupano di far visitare gli edifici di culto ai turisti che giungono da tutte le parti del mondo. Gli orari in cui è possibile visitare la Certosa sono dalle 9.00 alle 11.30 e dalle 15.00 alle 17.00, la cadenza della visita è oraria. I monaci cistercensi oltre a gestire le visite e mantenere in ordine la Certosa, si dedicano alla produzione artigianale di liquori di ogni genere.