Certosa di San Giacomo
Giacomo Arcucci · Capri, Italy · 1371
The Certosa di San Giacomo is Capri’s most important monastic complex and a major example of medieval religious architecture on the island. Founded in the fourteenth century, the charterhouse includes cloisters, church spaces, monastic rooms, and later cultural uses. Its architecture is defined by enclosure, repetition, and measured transitions between open courts and interior cells. Unlike the island’s isolated villas, the Certosa creates a collective spatial order, turning monastic discipline into built form. Today it functions as a museum and cultural venue, allowing visitors to experience the layered reuse of a religious complex. Its proximity to the Gardens of Augustus makes it part of a larger architectural walk through Capri’s cultural landscape.