Padula Charterhouse was founded by Tommaso di San Severino on 27 April 1306 on the site of an earlier monastery.

A famous spiral staircase of white marble inside an annex leads to the large library.

According to the strict Carthusian distinction between contemplation and work, there are two distinct places for these practices: on the one hand the peaceful cloisters, the library with its fine Vietri ceramic tiled floor, the chapels decorated with fine inlaid marble works.

the cloister orchards; and on the other hand the large kitchen,[1] the cellars with their enormous wine vats, the laundries, and the huge external yards, where there were people working in the stables, ovens, stores, and at the olive oil mill.

The monastery also houses the archaeological museum of Western Lucania, which preserves a collection of all the finds unearthed in the excavations at the necropolis of Sala Consilina and Padula.