Visit the Last Supper Museum in Milan: When, Where, How, What to Expect?

Published on

by Henk Bekker

in Italy, Lombardy - Milan, N24

A practical guide and walkthrough of a visit to the Last Supper Museum in Milan – how, when, and where to pick up entrance tickets and what to expect on the day of the visit to Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece painting in the Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano.

Visit Leondardo's Last Supper Museum in Milan

The Last Supper Museum in Milan is one of the top cultural and art sights to visit in Italy. Time-slot reservation tickets are obligatory but hard to get while guided tours sell at a premium. Both entry tickets and tours often sell out so book as soon as travel dates are known. Once admission is booked, visitors have to exchange vouchers for museum entry tickets on the day of the time slot reservations. The basic process is simple but inflexible — be on time at the right ticket office. Once inside the museum, know the procedure. The set number of visitors has only 15 minutes with The Last Supper once the final automatic doors open to the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Last Supper Museum and Santa Maria delle Grazie Church

The Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with The Last Supper wall painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the former refectory is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the top cultural sights to visit in the heart of Milan.

Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is inside the convent’s former refectory (dining room). This small building is the Last Supper Museum (Museo Cenacolo Vinciano) for which entry tickets with time-slot reservations are absolutely essential.

A visit to the Last Supper Museum in Milan and Santa Maria delle Grazie church (with a small section of the convent) is completely separate. Entry to the large church is free but opening hours are far shorter than for the Last Supper Museum.

How to Pick Up Last Supper Museum Tickets in Milan

Santa Maria delle Grazie and Last Supper Museum Milan

All visitors arrive at the small piazza in front of the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan with a Last Supper Museum voucher rather than an actual ticket. No tickets booked yet? See How to Buy Tickets for the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. It is not possible to buy tickets last minute from the ticket office. For the cheapest Last Supper tickets, buy online weeks in advance from the official website. It is possible to book more expensive Last Supper tours months to days in advance.

To swap the Last Supper Museum (Cenacolo Vinciano) voucher for actual tickets, proceed as follows:

Ticket-Only and Official Museum Tour Visitors:

For ticket-only visitors, or tours booked at the official museum website, the ticket booking time slot is the time to enter the museum. Half an hour earlier, proceed to the ticket office. It is the small yellowish building to the far left on Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie when facing the museum (church on the right). There is no point in being too early.

Tour Group Members:

For visitors taking other guided tours, the voucher should state the time to arrive at the piazza. This is usually 15 minutes before the tour time, which is not the time of entry into the museum.

First thing, find the tour representative, who will check vouchers to see if you are in the right Last Supper tour group (and time). Don’t be shy to ask, most are happy to point you in the direction of the right person if needed. (It is impossible to “steal” a visitor from another tour guide.)

A further check is likely, often by the actual expert guide, to ensure that IDs and names on the list match. Audio guides are handed out and earphones are tested. If the sound is iffy, complain right away. (A small group tour of six saves a bit of time here. Larger groups mill about 30 to 45 minutes before the actual visit.)

Follow the guide to the ticket office. (If you missed your tour group, run to the ticket office and hope your ticket is still available.)

At the Last Supper Museum Ticket Office:

Buy Last Supper Museum Milan Tickets in advance or it will be sold out

The procedure at the ticket office is the same for individual visitors and tour members. All tickets for the time slot are already printed out. Show an official ID document or passport to receive the ticket with the matching name. Only the named visitors may collect the ticket. Don’t lose it. Minor spelling errors are not a problem but avoid nicknames etc. when booking. If there is no ticket with a matching name, you will not see The Last Supper. The museum personnel has no discretion to sell or give away any unclaimed tickets or to print any additional tickets last minute.

Lockers are available at the ticket office to leave all small bags. Take phones and cameras with you to the museum. No food or drink (including water) may be taken into the museum. There are no storage facilities for large bags or luggage — book nearby luggage storage in advance. In a pinch, politely begging the personnel to leave suitcases unattended inside the office at your own risk may work (but they are not really supposed to let you do it).

The dress code is usually not as strictly enforced as at some churches. As a minimum, all visitors should have shoulders and knees covered.

Visit the Last Supper Museum in Milan in 2025

Visit the Last Supper Museum in Milan

Last Super tickets in hand, return outside to the piazza and line up at the museum entrance — the yellowish building perpendicular to the church. The time group will proceed through the ticket check into the museum and go through a series of rooms with automatic doors for climate control purposes. Some photos and information are on display and tour guides may use these to point out details to look out for later. Tickets-only visitors may find themselves the solo non-Get Your Guide tour member in the group. Feel free to eavesdrop gratis.

A good tip is to proceed through every room directly to the automatic doors to enter the next first. Once the final doors from the cloisters to the refectory open, visitors have 15 minutes to enjoy Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

Seeing the Cenacolo Vinciano in the Refectory Dining Room

Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper painting on a refectory wall in Milan.

Leonardo da Vinci painted his famous The Last Supper (Il Cenacolo or L’Ultima Cena) on the north wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery between 1494 and 1498. Rather than using the tried and tested fresco technique of painting quickly on wet plaster, he used the dry painting technique, which allowed him to proceed slower and layer colors. The result was a spectacular work of art that is fragile and needed many restorations as well as the current complicated airconditioning system (and limited visitor numbers and difficult ticket availability).

The refectory is large enough for the whole group to easily enjoy The Last Supper painting. Visitors have to stay far enough away from the wall, and the painting is about a door length up from the floor (as is obvious from the doorway that cut off Christ’s feet), so there is no real need to rush to the front for a clear view.

Visitors may take photos and videos but not use flash photography, tripod, or selfie stick.

Also, look at the painting from the center or back of the room to appreciate Leonardo da Vinci’s use of perspective to match the architecture and vaulting of the room. More of the walls and ceilings were painted before damage in the Second World War.

Giovanni Donato Montorfano’s Crucifixion

Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato Montorfano in the Last Supper Museum in Milan

After 15 minutes, visitors will be ushered out of the room. On the way to the exit, have a look at the large wall paintings on the opposite wall. This Crucifixion fresco (1495)is the only signed work of Giovanni Donato Montorfano. The nearly faded figures in the lower corners are often attributed to Da Vinci. Using real fresco techniques, this painting was better preserved than Leonardo’s despite being painted in the same period in the late 15th century.

(A very good copy of the central band of The Last Supper was painted already in 1616 by Andrea Bianchi (“Vespino”) to have a record in case the original was damaged. It is in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, which also has the only Da Vinci panel painting in Milan and the Codex Atlanticus of his notes and drawings.)

Second World War photos in the Last Supper Museum in Milan

A small exhibition explains the damage of the Second World War when a bomb in August 1943 destroyed the sidewall and much of the vaulting of the refectory. (A wall of sandbags successfully protected The Last Supper.) The exhibition also explains some details of the most recent full restoration projects — completed in 1999 after two decades of work.

Toilets are available behind the small bookshop — a great option, clean and no queues. Otherwise, exit through the garden and pick up belongings from the ticket office lockers.

Other Da Vinci Sights to Visit near the Last Supper Museum

Leonardo Da Vinci Portrait of a Musician painting in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan

Although Leonardo da Vinci spent considerable time working for Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, apart from The Last Supper, the only Da Vinci painting in Milan is Portrait of a Musician in the Pinacoteca Abrosiana. This lovely museum has many further wonderful artworks and a rotating display of Da Vinci drawings from the Codex Atlanticus.

Very close to the Last Supper Museum is the privately owned Da Vinci’s Vineyard. In 2015, the vineyard was again planted with the kind of vines that Leonardo had growing here after he received it as a gift from the Sforzas. (It was apparently sold to French billionaire Bernard Arnault. Leonardo’s Vineyard closed to the public in 2023 with no indication if it will reopen in the future.)

Models of some of Da Vinci’s numerous designs and inventions are on display in the Science Museum with Da Vinci Models exhibition, which is a few blocks from the Last Supper Museum (a 10-minute walk). In addition to the around 170 Da Vinci models, this is also the largest science and technology museum in Italy and well worth seeing for the other displays too.

The interactive Leonardo3 – The World of Leonardo exhibition in Milan is also very popular with tourists. It is a display of 200 large and interactive models of Da Vinci’s designs. It is conveniently located at the entrance to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II across the piazza from La Scala near the Duomo.

→ See also Tips on Visiting Leonardo’s Last Supper Museum for transportation information.

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