Gian Galeazzo Visconti, first Duke of Milan, commissioned the Carthusian monastery as a family mausoleum. The foundation stone was laid on August 27, 1396, and the church was consecrated on May 3, 1497, though the lower facade was not finished until 1507. Marco Solari is named as the first architect, then Giovanni and Guiniforte Solari, and Giovanni Antonio Amadeo directed work from 1481 to 1499.
The church is a Latin cross with a nave and two aisles, unusual for the Carthusian order, and the infobox lists Gothic and Renaissance style with later Mannerist and Baroque additions. The facade is Carrara marble with reliefs, inlaid marble and statues. The Great Cloister measures about 410 by 328 feet (125 by 100 m).
Visconti's tomb was begun in the 1490s and completed in 1562. Carthusians were expelled in 1782 and returned in 1843, and Cistercian monks now live there. The article gives no hours or tickets.
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