Padula, Province of Salerno, Campania, Italy

🇮🇹 Padula is a comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is the home of the Carthusian monastery Certosa di San Lorenzo, sometimes referred to as the Certosa di Padula.

Geography It is located about 100 km south-east of the provincial capital of Salerno. The majority of the town is on a hillside that reaches 698 meters above sea level. The comune covers an area of 66.33 square kilometres. It is served by the A2 motorway Salerno-Reggio Calabria, at the exit "Padula-Buonabitacolo", which is the northern end of a highway to Policastro Bussentino on the Cilentan Coast.

History Its existence reaches back to at least the ninth century when local people used the hilltop area for defence against the Saracens. The history of Padula as an organized village begins with the arrival in 1296 of Tommaso II Sanseverino, though the Monastery of Saint Nicola had been erected on this site earlier, in 1086.

Religious monuments • Padula Charterhouse • Church of Annunziata • Church of St. Michael • Church of St. Nicholas of Domnis • Convent of St. Francesco of Assisi • Convent of St. Augustine • Church of St. Clement • Hermitage of St. Michael to Grottelle.

Transport The town counts a railway station on the abandoned Sicignano-Lagonegro line, closed in 1987. It is served by the A2 motorway Salerno-Reggio Calabria, at the exit "Padula-Buonabitacolo", which is the northern end of a highway to Policastro Bussentino on the Cilentan Coast. Nearest airports are Salerno-Pontecagnano (97 km far) and Naples-Capodichino (168 km).

Festivals and events • Omelette of 1,000 eggs - "Frittata delle mille uova" (10 August). Reenactment of the celebration where the Carthusian Monks created a 1,000-egg omelette for Charles V's visit to the Certosa. Special giant iron cooking "pan" erected in 1996 expressly for this purpose. • Festival of the Romito Madonna (first Sunday in May) • Feast of the Patron Saint Michael the Archangel (last Sunday in May) • Festival of Saint Michael of the Grottelle (third Sunday in June) • A week-long August festival of traditional dishes - Bistecca • Feast of Saint Francis (first and second Sundays of October).