San Marco: Fra Angelico's convent and the academic quarter
A monk's cell frescoes, the edge of the David crowds, and the quietest piazza in central Florence. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Piazza San Marco
The bus hub for half the city, but stand with your back to the traffic and it's a proper square — the convent church on one side, the university on the others. Come early; by ten it's all students and idling buses.

2. Museo di San Marco — the cells
Up the dormitory stairs, *Fra Angelico* painted a fresco in nearly every monk's cell, one quiet scene apiece for a man to pray in front of. Walk the whole corridor; the *Annunciation* at the top of the stairs is the one everyone stops at, but the small ones are the reason to come.

3. Cloister of Sant'Antonino
The calm green courtyard you cross to reach the cells, ringed by a low colonnade. Sit on the edge a minute before you go up — the convent works on you slowly, and rushing it is a waste.

4. Galleria dell'Accademia
A minute south on Via Ricasoli, and the reason the street is a queue from nine onwards: Michelangelo's *David* at the end of a corridor of his unfinished *Prisoners*. Book a slot or skip it — but the *Prisoners*, half-trapped in their marble, are the better surprise.

5. Via degli Alfani and the academic streets
Cut east into the grid of university buildings and conservatory — the *Cherubini* music academy is along here, and on a good day a window's open and someone's practising. Ordinary working Florence, no queues, which is the point after the David.

6. Giardino dei Semplici
The university's botanical garden, one of the oldest in Europe, tucked behind the convent. Small, shaded, almost always empty of tourists. A good cool half-hour to end on before the walk loops back to the piazza.

San Marco: Fra Angelico's convent and the academic quarter