A sunny holiday in the middle of the week calls for a bike ride. Apparently every family in Milano had the same thought; the bike path along the canal was crowded with those rolling tra-la-la along. I, on the other hand, felt full of vim and vigor so I pushed myself hard for an hour until I was further along the canal than I had gone before: Certosa di Pavia.
What a beautiful little town about 15 miles south of Milano. I saw spires to the east and followed them to a gem of a church I had been unaware of.
“The Certosa di Pavia Gra-Car (“Charterhouse of Pavia – Gratiarum Chartusia”), Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Grace, is a monastery and complex in Lombardy, northern Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, 8 km north of Pavia. Built in 1396-1495, it was once located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan, of which today only scattered parts remain.
Certosa is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians founded by St. Bruno in 1044 at Grande Chartreuse. Though the Carthusians in their early centuries were known for their seclusion and asceticism and the plainness of their architecture, the Certosa is renowned for the exuberance of its architecture, in both the Gothic and Renaissance styles, and for its collection of artworks which are particularly representative of the region.”
I enjoyed the verdant courtyard between the entry gate and the church’s door, and marveled at the detail-laden exterior. Photos were not allowed inside of the church, nor were such casual, immodest clothes as biker’s lycra, so I could only stand at the doorway and peer in at the vaulted, starry ceiling overhead.
How wonderful to hop on my bike, discover a place I hadn’t seen yet, and unexpectedly see something so beautiful! As I rode away, the sun was bouncing off the rice paddies alongside the church compound. The wind picked up strongly and required that I shift gears to ride against it, arriving home in advance of a northern storm that loomed dark but never materialized.
