The Museo di San Marco, Florence
Home to the works of the Blessed Angelico
Only the locals were about as I approached the Museo San Marco along quiet back streets. Some stood at the bar in various cafes having a quick espresso before work, others were busy with the morning shopping as students headed off for the day. A few stood enjoying the sunshine. I took my time, buying cookie cutters in a gorgeous kitchen shop, and spending far too much time in a second-hand clothes shop. I made a note of a shoe shop for later, as well as a few possible places for lunch.
Queues outside the Accademia (home to Michelangelo’s David) were already snaking along the street and into the piazza. Just around the corner was my destination, the Museo San Marco. Despite checking the opening hours, I thought the place was closed in that truly haphazard manner of Italian opening hours, for no one stood waiting outside. At this early hour I had the museum almost to myself.
The Dominican monastery was built in the 13th century, then later enlarged by Cosimo de’ Medici in 1437. Overlooking a central cloister, the monks’ cells are little more than a stone floor with space for a pallet, no door, and a…
