 Close by is the famous Carthusian monastery, Serra San Bruno Charterhouse ("Certosa di Santo Stefano di Serra San Bruno"), around which the town grew up.The town is named after Saint Bruno of Cologne, who founded the Carthusian Order in 1053 and the Grande Chartreuse, mother house of the Carthusians, near Grenoble, in France.He built the charterhouse of Serra San Bruno in 1095, and died here in 1101.