Charterhouse of Serra San Bruno

The Charterhouse of Serra San Bruno in Calabria is one of the few Carthusian communities still active in Italy. It is located in Serra San Bruno, in the province of Vibo Valentia, immersed in the woods of the Serre Regional Park.

Founded by Bruno di Colonia in 1091, following a land donation by Ruggero d'Altavilla, the Charterhouse of Serra San Bruno is one of the most important places of faith in Calabria and southern Italy. Damaged by numerous earthquakes, in particular that of 1783, the Charterhouse of Saints Stephen and Bruno was rebuilt in 1889 according to a Baroque style design.

The 16th-century remains include the Refectory, the Chapter House, the Library and the Chapel of Relics.

Countless legends and traditions are linked to the Charterhouse of Serra San Bruno: the writer Leonardo Sciascia speculated that the physicist Ettore Majorana, a pupil of Enrico Fermi, who disappeared in 1938 under mysterious circumstances, had taken refuge within its walls.

The Charterhouse of Serra San Bruno has been visited by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, as the Carthusian Order is a diplomatic body of the Vatican.

The Carthusian monks profess a vow of enclosure, so the monastery is not accessible. Visitors can take advantage of a beautiful adjoining museum, the Carthusian Museum, housed in a wing of the cloister itself, where exhibits include artefacts and works of art, reproductions and audiovisual documents illustrating monastic life, the history of the place and its founder.