The great cloister and its eighteen doors
Each door opens onto a monk's private house with its own garden and silent food hatch, solitude built as architecture rather than described.
Cyberuly — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Sailko — CC BY 3.0 · Elisa Marianini — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Francesco Bini — CC BY-SA 4.0
No. Honestly, two days belong to the Uffizi, the Accademia, the dome and Santa Croce, all of which need booking well ahead. The Certosa costs you half a day between the bus, the climb and the tour, and its real value is that it is quiet and empty, which is a gift on a repeat visit and a waste on a first one.
Yes, individuals and families of up to five simply arrive a few minutes before a tour time and pay at the door; larger groups book by phone or through the form on the site. As for children, it is a full hour of quiet corridors where they must stay close and silent, quite possibly in Italian, so it suits teenagers curious about architecture far more than young kids.
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In 1523 the plague emptied Florence and the painter Pontormo fled it, climbing this hill south of the city to shelter with the Carthusian monks for the better part of two years. What he left behind were five Passion scenes frescoed into the lunettes of the great cloister. The irony is that the paintings people come for are now ghosts: centuries of rain and sun bleached them before they were cut from the walls in 1952 and moved into a small gallery indoors, hung beside copies painted decades later by Empoli, Cigoli and others that show you what has been lost. Know that before you climb, and come for the place rather than for Pontormo alone. The place earns it. The Charterhouse was founded in 1341 by the Florentine banker Niccolo Acciaioli, grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples, on a hilltop where two valleys meet, and it was built more like a fortress than a monastery: walls, towers and stairs that deliver you onto a terrace open to the Tuscan hills. Off the great cloister run eighteen doors, each one the entrance to what is effectively a small private house with its own garden, corridor and hatch through which a monk received his food without a word being exchanged. Carthusian solitude here is not an idea but architecture you can walk through. Around the doors, sixty-six white and blue glazed medallions from Giovanni della Robbia's workshop watch you pass. Let us be plain about who this suits. It is not a visit for anyone with two days in Florence. On a first trip the Uffizi, the Accademia and the dome are the better use of your hours, and they sell out weeks ahead, so book them early rather than trusting to luck. But if you are back in Florence for a second or third time and tired of queueing shoulder to shoulder, the Certosa is the exact opposite proposition: no booking, no crowd, a token contribution of five euros, and a tour you may well share with three other people in corridors where the loudest sound is your own footsteps. Entry is by guided tour only, at fixed times: Tuesday to Saturday at 10:00, 11:00, 15:00 and 16:00, with a 17:00 tour added from 1 April to 31 October, Sunday afternoons only at 15:00 and 16:00 (17:00 in season), closed Mondays. In July and August it opens on Saturdays and Sundays alone. The tour runs about an hour and needs no reservation for parties of five or fewer. Take bus 37 from Santa Maria Novella station towards Tavarnuzze, which also calls at Porta Romana, and get off at the Senese Certosa stop below the hill, then climb about ten minutes to the gate; line 36 leaves you further off in Galluzzo, a quarter of an hour on foot. The approach is steep and there are stairs inside, so rule it out with a wheelchair or a pushchair. Dress modestly and keep your voice down: the Carthusians left in 1958 and Cistercians followed them, and since 2017 the complex has been home to the Comunita di San Leolino, not an empty museum. Do not count on halal restaurants in Galluzzo either, so eat in the city before you come up.
Each door opens onto a monk's private house with its own garden and silent food hatch, solitude built as architecture rather than described.
The five Passion frescoes he painted while hiding from the 1523 plague faded after centuries outdoors, were detached in 1952, and now hang indoors beside copies painted decades later that reveal what was lost.
No queue, no booking, no crowd, and a tour you may share with three other people, which is close to unheard of in Florence.
Via della Certosa 1, Galluzzo, 50124 Florence