Certosa di Serra San Bruno, Carthusian monastery in Serra San Bruno, Italy.
The Certosa di Serra San Bruno is a Carthusian monastery in the town of Serra San Bruno in the Calabrian province of Vibo Valentia. The buildings stand on a wooded hillside at 815 meters (2,674 feet) and include cells for the monks, a church, stone cloisters and a library holding thousands of old volumes.
Bruno of Cologne founded the monastery in 1091 with permission from Pope Urban II after retreating into the Calabrian mountains. The complex suffered earthquake damage over the centuries and was rebuilt several times while keeping its Romanesque form.
The name comes from Bruno of Cologne, who founded a monastic community here in the eleventh century following the strict rules of the Carthusian order. The monks still live a life devoted to silence and prayer, walking together through the surrounding woods only once a week when visitors can see them.
Only men can enter the monastery grounds, as the Carthusians follow a strict rule that forbids female visitors. The best time to visit is on a Monday morning when the monks take their weekly walk through the forest and you can watch them from a distance.
A small lake near the monastery is fed by natural springs and attracts believers who step into the cold water on Pentecost Monday. The library still holds around 25,000 volumes, including religious writings and scholarly manuscripts from several centuries.
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