Leonardo's Last Supper at Santa Maria delle Grazie: Book Early, Stay Close
Of everything in Milan, this is the one thing you cannot decide to see on the day. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper – Il Cenacolo – is seen by small groups for fifteen minutes at a time, and tickets are released months ahead. Guests at Taylor's Love Solferino B&B should book this before they book anything else.
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Photo: Luca Aless, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Getting There from Our B&B
By metro: from Moscova (M2 green line), 300 metres from the B&B, take the M2 two stops to Cadorna, then walk about 600 metres along Corso Magenta. Door to door: roughly 18 minutes.
On foot: approximately 2.2 km, about 28 minutes through Brera, past the Castello Sforzesco and along Via Boccaccio – a genuinely lovely walk.
A Painting That Should Not Have Survived
Leonardo painted the Last Supper between 1495 and 1498 on the refectory wall of the Dominican convent. Instead of true fresco, he experimented with tempera on a dry wall so he could work slowly and rework details. The experiment failed: the paint began lifting within twenty years.
It survived Napoleon's troops using the refectory as a stable, and it survived the night of 15 August 1943, when an Allied bomb destroyed most of the building. The wall carrying the Last Supper was left standing, protected by sandbags, open to the sky for months.
A twenty-one-year restoration, completed in 1999, removed centuries of overpainting. What you see now is faint, fragmentary and astonishing.
What to Look For
- The moment chosen – not the institution of the Eucharist, but the instant after Christ says one of you will betray me. Every apostle reacts differently.
- The perspective – all lines converge on Christ's right temple. Leonardo hammered a nail there to guide the strings.
- Judas – the only figure leaning back into shadow, clutching a purse, knocking over the salt.
- The groups of three – the twelve apostles arranged in four clusters, a rhythm no earlier painter had attempted.
- The Crucifixion opposite – Montorfano's 1495 fresco on the facing wall, almost always ignored, is worth turning round for.
- The church itself – Bramante's tribune and cloister, free to enter, are a masterpiece in their own right.
Practical Information
- Booking: essential, through the official ticketing site. Tickets are released in blocks, usually about three months ahead, and sell out within hours.
- Price: around 15 euro plus a small booking fee. Guided tours cost more but often have availability when standard tickets do not.
- Visit length: exactly 15 minutes, in groups of about 35, behind climate-controlled doors.
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, roughly 08:15 to 19:00. Closed Mondays.
- Arrive: at least 20 minutes early – latecomers are not admitted, with no refund.
- The church: free, no booking, open outside Mass times.
If You Cannot Get a Ticket
It happens often. Visit the church and Bramante's cloister anyway, then walk ten minutes to the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, which holds the largest collection of models built from his drawings. Alternatively the Vigna di Leonardo – the vineyard given to him by Ludovico Sforza – is directly opposite the church and can usually be visited on the day.
Why Staying in Brera Makes the Difference
Taylor's Love Solferino B&B sits at Via Solferino 56 in Zone 1, the historic centre, between Brera, Moscova and Corso Garibaldi. With a fifteen-minute time slot that cannot be moved, staying centrally is not a luxury but insurance: from here you are twenty minutes from the door, with no risk of a delayed suburban train costing you the ticket.
For travellers who prefer a short stay apartment in Milan centre to a hotel, the B&B offers free self check-in with a smart lock, so late arrivals are never a problem. Porta Garibaldi FS, 700 metres away, links directly to Malpensa Airport with the Malpensa Express.