Santa Maria delle Grazie e Cenacolo

Leonardo’s iconic 'Last Supper'
Word to the wise: Tickets to see The Last Supper are like gold dust. Book way ahead if visiting in summer.

Talk of the town: If you really can’t get tickets to see the fresco, book with Zani Viaggi, who run (expensive) daily guided tours of the Duomo, La Scala and The Last Supper - www.zaniviaggi.it.
Milan’s greatest art treasure is secreted away in the refectory (cenacolo) of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a beautiful Lombard Renaissance church with an exotic façade built in 1465-1482 by architect Guiniforte Solari.

Leonardo da Vinci painted his masterpiece for Milanese ruler Ludovico il Moro between 1495-1497; it depicts Christ revealing who will betray him. Judas leans away from the central figure of Jesus, a bag of silver clearly visible in his hand. As he worked with tempera directly onto the refectory wall, the fresco began to deteriorate as soon as it was finished. It suffered various regrettable restoration attempts; the last took place in the 1990s and although the colours are muted they do at least resemble Leonardo’s original work.

To protect the fresco from dust and pollution, it is climate controlled and can only be viewed by pre-booking in allocated periods of 15 minutes.