Spiritualità certosina, cultura umanistica e prestigio dinastico: alle origini della Certosa di Ferrara

The foundation of the Carthusian monastery of San Cristoforo di Ferrara (1452) testifies the religiosity of the Duke Borso and reflects his particular affection to the Carthusian way of life, based on a strong component hermit and contemplative, but also marked by enhancing the intellectual activity and literary production. The article reconstructs the early years of the Certosa life, focusing in particular on the establishment of the library, which, like all libraries of the order, consists mostly of liturgical books, classics of monastic spirituality and devotional booklets of domestic production. But the Certosa di Ferrara also appears an important crossroads of humanistic culture: it is the subject of appreciation by several intellectuals of Ferrara, who greet with enthusiasm the foundation by the Duke and contribute to enrich its library; it is also the site of formation of one of the most significant representatives of the Carthusian spirituality of the late 400, the Hungarian humanist Andrea Pannonio.