The (no longer active) Monastery of San Marco is a place worth visiting more than once. I think this is my third of fourth visit, and I would go back again. It is a place filled with beauty, history, and a contemplative spirit. You first enter into a most serene cloister.
Once inside the building, you go upstairs to see the monk’s cells. Each cell is a small room, most without windows. But, each cell has something better than a window. One of the Dominican monks who lived in San Marco was the famed early Renaissance artist, Fra Angelico. He decorated each cell with a fresco of a scene from the life of Christ. Many of them are AMAZING works of art. I’ll just share a few. It is really special to see art in the place that it has always “lived”.
Anybody want to go back to Florence with me?
Now, for the history part. San Marco was also home to another famous historical personality. Savonarola, another Dominican friar. This fiery preacher stirred up both Florence and Rome by publicly denouncing the corruption of the Medici popes, the church’s apparent lack of concern for the poor, and the general excessive lifestyles of the rich and famous. He led a brief puritanical revolution in Florence that led to the destruction of a lot of art and many books, but in the end did not lead to much. Savonarola’s study, cell and desk have been preserved in San Marco, and you can view his hair shirt. While I sympathize with his disapproval of some things about the corruption of the Renaissance Church, he must have been one interesting individual.
He looks a little severe to me.
Blessings,
Linda
