CERTOSA MOTTA GROSSA [IT]

Exploration #193 Certosa Motta Grossa. In 1903, following laws suppressing monastic orders, the Carthusian women’s community of Bastide Sainte Pierre at Montauban in the French Garonne had to abandon their convent and seek refuge in Italy. The Prior General at the time, Father Michel Baglin, had to buy the ancient medieval castle of “Motta dei Trucchetti” at the request of Father Martin, superior of the seminary of Pinerolo, and a great benefactor of the nuns until his death. The Carthusian nuns thus moved into the ancient castle in 1903.

Major renovation work began in October 1903 and was carried out under the direction of Don Roch Mallet, procurator of the Grande Chartreuse, who made the buildings suitable for the Carthusian monastic rule. Here the religious community respected the Carthusian rule as a house of refuge, and it was only later, in 1936, given the considerable growth in the number of nuns, that it was decided to build an autonomous Carthusian monastery known as Certosa Motta Grossa. The Carthusian nuns of Riva were the second female foundation of the Order in Italy, after that of Buonluogo. They remained there until May 1998, when they moved to the Carthusian monastery of Vedana. The Carthusian Monastery was then sold to the Diocesan Institute of Turin, which has since abandoned it.

These photos date back to 2014. Today the structure has been heavily vandalized.