The Museo di San Marco (San Marco Museum) was built in the middle of the 15th century for Cosimo de' Medici by Michelozzo. Cosimo de'Medici had a cell in the convent for his personal retreat, while the library was a favourite meeting point for Florentine humanists. Over the years it has played host to famous Dominicans including the painter Fra Angelico and the preacher Girolamo Savonarola.

The San Marco Museum, on the Piazza San Marco in Florence, was built on what used to be a Vallombrosan monastery in the 12th century, which later belonged to Benedictine monks and then finally to Dominicans.

Today, the convent boasts an exciting collection of paintings by Fra Angelico. This includes the ‘San Marco’ commissioned by the Medici in 1440, a great number of small and large frescoes, and his 1442 masterpiece the Crucifixion in the Capitular Hall. The museum also exhibits works by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Alesso Baldovinetti, Giovanni Antonio Sogliani and Fra Bartolomeo.

Address

Piazza San Marco 1, 50121 Florence

Getting There

Bus: Line 10 (San Marco Rettorato); lines 1, 7, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 25, 31 and line C1 (Piazza Di San Marco)