SAN MARCO, Museum - Cells

Close to the Small Refectory, a beautiful 15th-century staircase leads you to the upper floor of the convent where with an unusual but delightful solution, Michelozzo arranged the friars' cells: numbered from one to thirty-nine, they are connected by long corridors that wind along three sides of the cloister. Here you will go on an enchanting tour thanks to Fra Angelico's frescoes in each of the cells and along the corridors. A sequence of scenes of pure beauty painted just before the mid-1400s, they are partly by Fra Angelico and were partly painted by his students based on their master's drawings.

At the top of the staircase you're immediately greeted by a masterpiece: the large Annunciation placed in a Renaissance portico with architectural features similar to those of the convent itself. You'll immediately understand that the charm of the frescoes comes from how perfectly they belong in the building they were painted in, as well as the way they are illuminated and placed along the path. This will be confirmed in the amazing Madonna of the Shadows painted in a corridor: the capitals in the background of the scene project shadows that correspond to the way the light comes in from the windows.

To the left of the Annunciation you can go down the first corridor. The nine cells on the left host an extraordinary series of Gospel-inspired scenes, all painted directly by Fra Angelico. I strongly suggest going to see all of them, each one is more beautiful than the last!

The master had some of his students help with the frescoes in the second corridor. In the cells reserved for novices facing the cloister, San Domenico at the Foot of the Cross of Christ is a repeated theme....