UNESCO-listed Dominican church housing Leonardo's Last Supper — book tickets months in advance
Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper (Il Cenacolo) covers an entire wall of the refectory of this UNESCO-listed Dominican church, painted directly onto the plaster between 1495 and 1498. Entry is strictly limited to 30 people at a time in 15-minute slots — book online weeks or even months ahead, especially in summer.
The church itself, a Renaissance building by Bramante, is free to enter and beautiful in its own right. Don't arrive without a booking for the Last Supper — walk-in tickets are essentially unavailable.
A story
The Last Supper almost did not survive the 20th century. In August 1943, Allied bombs destroyed the surrounding refectory walls — but sandbagged scaffolding erected around the painting held, and the fresco survived. The empty roofless ruin stood open to the elements for two years before rebuilding began. The painting had already suffered centuries of deterioration from Leonardo's experimental technique; the bomb damage added another layer of trauma to a work that has never stopped being at risk.