Certosa di San Martino

The Certosa di San Martino ("Charterhouse of St. Martin") is a former monastery complex, now a museum, in Naples, southern Italy. 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 Joan I of Naples 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.

A masterpiece of baroque architecture it was expanded during the counter reformation. Amongst the murals, as you enter the church, is a depiction of Henry VIII suppression and destruction of the London Charterhouse.

In 1799 anti-clerical French forces of occupation suppressed the monastery and forced the monks to flee. In the ensuing decades the monks made several attempts to reestablish their charter house, with the last effort failing in 1866, when the state definitively confiscated the property.