The Museum and Convent of San Marco occupies a large area of the Dominican convent of St. Mark (San Marco), next to the church and on the piazza of the same name. The convent was founded in 1436 and built upon design of the architect Michelozzo (a favourite of the Medici family). This convent played a key role in the religious and cultural life of the Renaissance city, much having to do with the enigmatic but eventually heretic friar Girolamo Savonarola.

A visit to the museum of San Marco is special because you can explore the areas of the Renaissance convent that were almost all frescoed by a member of the convent’s community, Fra (or Beato) Angelico. Off the first cloister, with painted lunettes, is the Chapter Hall where the friars held meetings under the scene of the Crucifixion. A room of the museum offers the most important and extraordinary collection of art works on canvas and panel of Fra Angelico. On the upper floor is the unique opportunity to see the friar’s cells, each small austere room featuring a small and simple fresco that Fra Angelico executed between 1439 and 1445 for the purpose of prayer and meditation. The museum path also takes you to the Library of San Marco, located on the upper floor to give close access to the friars but also to important visitors, and downstairs, a beautifully decorative scene of the Last Supper by Domenico Ghirlandiaio in the refectory (now in use as a bookshop).