ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
if they are honest they will have greater possessions 
than they need, and if they are worthless they will 
not remember my soul, and it will be better they should 
have little than much, therefore I ask you for God’s 
sake to provide well for my soul and your own.” 
Niccolo’s resolve proved more sincere than most 
pious intentions, and no sooner had he returned safely 
from his crusade, than without a moment’s delay he 
applied himself to the execution of his plan. 
On the 8th of February 1342 the deed of gift was 
drawn up by which he endowed the Carthusian monks 
with all his lands in Val d’Ema ; and immediately 
afterwards, or it may have been even before, the 
foundations of the new monastery were laid on the 
hill—Monte Aguto, between the rivers Greve and 
Ema. Convent-church and buildings were at once 
begun on a large scale ; but the name of the architect 
of the Certosa is still unknown. Tradition ascribes 
this honour to Orgagna, but Vasari, in his life of this 
artist, owns that the true architect has never been 
discovered; and it seems more probable that a Car¬ 
thusian monk, Fra Jacopo Passavanti, to whom fre¬ 
quent allusion is made in Niccolo’s letters, furnished 
the plans. While the walls of the Certosa were slowly 
rising from the ground, public events occupied all the 
founder’s attention, and diverted his thoughts for a 
time from his favourite project. 
204 
