Certosa di San Martino, Naples, Italy

The Certosa di San Martino is a former monastery complex and now a museum. Along with Castel Sant'Elmo that stands beside it, this is the most visible landmark of the city, perched atop the Vomero hill that commands the gulf. A Carthusian monastery, it was finished and inaugurated under the rule of Queen Joan I in 1368. It was dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. During the first half of the 16th century it was expanded. Later, in 1623, it was further expanded and became, under the direction of architect Cosimo Fanzago, essentially the structure one sees today.

In the early 19th century, under French rule the monastery was closed and was abandoned by the religious order. Today, the buildings house a museum with a display of Spanish and Bourbon era artifacts, as well as displays of the presepe—Nativity scene—considered to be among the finest in the world.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Esther (13 months ago)
This museum has a gorgeous view of the whole city of Naples espacially during the sunset and at night where lights are shimmering far away. The crons are, many rooms were unfortunately closed or simply lack of explanations. Exhibitions were purely religious paintings or nativity objects under a slightly weird, grotesque atmosphere (I personally like it) . The chapels inside were beautiful though. The walls were, however, in need of a better maintenance.

Claire Wood (16 months ago)
It's a beautiful place with wonderful views of Vesuvius and the bay. Unfortunately not all the areas were accessible, the sacristy in particular looked worth visiting. It's totally worth the €6 entrance fee, though both the building and the gardens could do with some TLC

Ian Zammit (18 months ago)
Parts definitely need restoration, and some rooms that were visitabile were closed when i visited but beautiful nonetheless.

BMN Russo (2 years ago)
Beautiful, a must see if u r in town, and not only for the collections kept in the museum, but also for the heartbreaking views that you get from there of the entire city of Naples and the island of Capri, which peacefully lays down on the water as a beautiful mairmaid in the background .... the only down note in this period is that due to recent, unprecedented strong winds storms, the gorgeous, terraced gardens of the monks are barred to the public for safety reasons. However, I was told that a survey is scheduled to be performed and once all the trees and facilities are made safe, the gardens will be reopened for everybody to enjoy. Don't miss that opportunity when the time will come up!

Chestnut Zi (2 years ago)
Absolutely need to climb all the way up to the castle. The entrance to the castle is before the museum. I missed it first time cuz google map was directing me to the museum. I went in Nov and the patios were all closed from the museum, but the plaza in front of the museum will offer a great sky view and if you happened to run into sun set time, take a photo with the golden background and you sure will get an instagram moment. The top of the castle was very windy, at least for me, so it’s hard to get a good photo

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Martin M. Miles

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