San Cristoforo alla Certosa, Renaissance church and religious museum in Ferrara, Italy
San Cristoforo alla Certosa is a church building in Ferrara designed with a Latin cross layout and six side chapels. The interior features a marble portal created by Gaetano Barbieri.
A duke of the Este family commissioned the construction of a Carthusian monastery in 1452. A noted architect later designed the present church structure in 1498.
The church belongs to the monumental cemetery of the Certosa, which took over the monastery grounds after the Napoleonic suppressions. The Carthusian coat of arms still crowns the marble portal added in the 18th century, and the bases of the pillars carry the heraldic devices of the Este family: the paraduro, well and unicorn of Borso, the diamond, oak and hydra of Ercole I, the pomegranate of Alfonso I.
The church is easy to reach on foot and provides wheelchair access. It helps to check opening hours before visiting, as these change between summer and winter seasons.
The church holds two canvases by Giuseppe Avanzi of about 36 and 39 square metres. The first, showing the Virgin and Saint Peter appearing to Saint Bruno's companions, hung rolled and unprotected for decades before returning to the left presbytery wall after almost 80 years and a long restoration; the second was rehung on the right wall in February 2026.
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