Description
The Church of San Marco is a basilica in the center of Florence, on the square of the same name, and was the church of the Dominican convent where Fra Angelico, Saint Antoninus and Girolamo Savonarola lived. Inside, a single nave with side chapels, a carved ceiling and a few masterpieces. The convent is now the San Marco Museum, a visit of its own.
The facade is neoclassical, from 1777-78, the work of Fra Giovan Battista Paladini; the bell tower is from 1512, to a design by Baccio d'Agnolo. Inside, the side chapels were designed by Giambologna starting in 1579, and the carved ceiling, with the tribune, is from 1679, a project by Pier Francesco Silvani.
On the high altar is Fra Angelico's Crucifix, from 1425-1428. On the inner facade are the best remains of the church's 14th-century paintings: a large Crucifix from the school of Orcagna and an Annunciation.
The third altar on the right has a large mosaic of the Virgin, which came to Florence around 1596 from the old Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican. The angels and saints around it are painted: they imitate the mosaic, but were added here. The second altar has a Sacra Conversazione by Fra Bartolomeo, from around 1509.
To the left of the nave opens the Chapel of Saint Antoninus, or Salviati Chapel, with the remains of the holy archbishop under the altar. It was designed by Giambologna and decorated by Alessandro Allori, with bronze bas-reliefs by Giambologna on the saint's life.
On either side of the third altar on the left are also the funerary monuments of two humanists, Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola. They died in the autumn of 1494, two months apart, and people spoke of poison right away: more than five centuries later, analyses of their remains found arsenic.
It all began with a banker. In 1437 Cosimo the Elder de' Medici, who lived a few steps away, decided to rebuild the convent entrusted to the Observant Dominicans. The work went to Michelozzo, the frescoes to Fra Angelico and his workshop. The church was consecrated on the night of Epiphany in 1443, in the presence of Pope Eugene IV.
Later Girolamo Savonarola lived here, the friar who preached against luxury and ended up hanged and burned in Piazza della Signoria in 1498. The convent was confiscated in 1866 and has been a museum since 1869.
Don't miss
• Fra Angelico's Crucifix.
• The mosaic of the Virgin.
• The Chapel of Saint Antoninus.
• The monuments to Poliziano and Pico.
Did you know?
• On the altar of the inner facade, on the left, stood Botticelli's San Marco Altarpiece, now in the Uffizi: today there is a Transfiguration by Giovanni Battista Paggi.
• From 1934 the mayor Giorgio La Pira lived in the convent, and he is buried in the basilica.
The facade is neoclassical, from 1777-78, the work of Fra Giovan Battista Paladini; the bell tower is from 1512, to a design by Baccio d'Agnolo. Inside, the side chapels were designed by Giambologna starting in 1579, and the carved ceiling, with the tribune, is from 1679, a project by Pier Francesco Silvani.
On the high altar is Fra Angelico's Crucifix, from 1425-1428. On the inner facade are the best remains of the church's 14th-century paintings: a large Crucifix from the school of Orcagna and an Annunciation.
The third altar on the right has a large mosaic of the Virgin, which came to Florence around 1596 from the old Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican. The angels and saints around it are painted: they imitate the mosaic, but were added here. The second altar has a Sacra Conversazione by Fra Bartolomeo, from around 1509.
To the left of the nave opens the Chapel of Saint Antoninus, or Salviati Chapel, with the remains of the holy archbishop under the altar. It was designed by Giambologna and decorated by Alessandro Allori, with bronze bas-reliefs by Giambologna on the saint's life.
On either side of the third altar on the left are also the funerary monuments of two humanists, Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola. They died in the autumn of 1494, two months apart, and people spoke of poison right away: more than five centuries later, analyses of their remains found arsenic.
It all began with a banker. In 1437 Cosimo the Elder de' Medici, who lived a few steps away, decided to rebuild the convent entrusted to the Observant Dominicans. The work went to Michelozzo, the frescoes to Fra Angelico and his workshop. The church was consecrated on the night of Epiphany in 1443, in the presence of Pope Eugene IV.
Later Girolamo Savonarola lived here, the friar who preached against luxury and ended up hanged and burned in Piazza della Signoria in 1498. The convent was confiscated in 1866 and has been a museum since 1869.
Don't miss
• Fra Angelico's Crucifix.
• The mosaic of the Virgin.
• The Chapel of Saint Antoninus.
• The monuments to Poliziano and Pico.
Did you know?
• On the altar of the inner facade, on the left, stood Botticelli's San Marco Altarpiece, now in the Uffizi: today there is a Transfiguration by Giovanni Battista Paggi.
• From 1934 the mayor Giorgio La Pira lived in the convent, and he is buried in the basilica.