Certosa e Museo di San Martino

HISTORY

The Certosa di San Martino was founded in 1325 on the orders of King Charles of Anjou and designed by Sienese architect and sculptor Tino da Camaino. It underwent major expansion and decoration work between the end of the 16th and the middle of the 18th centuries. Those involved in the work included Giovanni Dosio, Luca Giordano and above all Cosimo Fanzago, who is largely responsible for the complex’s Baroque-style decorations.

The monastery played a leading role in the cultural and economic life of the city until the ‘French Decade’. Because of anticlerical Napoleonic laws and, subsequently, the anti-ecclesiastical policies that followed the Unification of Italy, the Certosa became property of the Italian State in 1866 and was turned into a museum a year later.

VISITING THE CERTOSA AND MUSEO DI SAN MARTINO

The Certosa and Museo di San Martino consist of three main cloisters which face the various buildings and spaces of the monastic complex and a large terraced garden that slopes down towards the sea.
The museum was founded to house the pre-existing monastic heritage (paintings, sculptures, books and furnishings) but above all the memories of the city of Naples, collecting friezes, sculptures and objects that arrived here from the districts destroyed by the urban Risanamento cleaning project from the end of the 19th century which gave the historic city centre its present-day appearance.

Here you will admire the wonderful marble and wood decorations of the main church, frescoed by the most illustrious Italian Baroque artists, but also a highly diverse art collection divided into different themed sections. Don’t miss the Nativity section, the richest Italian public collection of traditional nativity scenes and shepherds dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and the Naval section, where the paintings by Hackert depict Charles of Bourbon’s white ‘Galea’, an elegant Turkish gulet given to Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples by Sultan Selim III, and the Lancia Reale of Umberto I of Savoy. The Museum also includes the sculpture section, the Quarto del Priore painting collection, glasses and collections of 19th century Neapolitan paintings.

Visiting San Martino is like taking a trip back in time through the history of the city of Naples. From the terraced gardens of the Certosa you can also admire one of the most beautiful views of the gulf and see the layout of the entire city from above. What are you waiting for? Book your visit now!