Private Tour Last Supper Milan. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Masterpiece

The painting was commissioned in 1495 and completed in 1497 on the dining room wall of this former Dominican monastery. The representation by Leonardo da Vinci depicted the moment immediately after Christ said, “One of you will betray me”.

It is an enormous painting, 4,6mt high and 8,8mt long, realized with tempera and oil on a chalk preparation, different from the technique used at the time.

Last Supper tour is one of the most popular Milan walking tours, as the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is only in 20 minutes walking distance from Piazza Duomo and can be easily reach by foot from Duomo area or by subway from Central Station of Milan. By the way, if you are not staying in Milan, it is also extremely well-located for convenient day trips from Florence or Venice (check our article about 17 best day trips from Milan).

During the Last Supper private tour, a licensed local guide will introduce you to this masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, revealing many surprising facts about the the composition, perspective and the technique used, as well as the history of the site.

The Last Supper is undisputedly one of the world’s masterpieces of painting. Its unique value, which over the centuries has had immense influence in the field of figurative art, is inseparable from the architectural complex in which it was created.

This work has highly influenced not only the development of one iconographic theme, but also the entire development of painting. Heydenreich wrote about the “superdimension” of its painted bodies in relation to space.

It is one of the first classic paintings that focuses on a precise and very short moment of time, instead of a long one. After five centuries, the Last Supper is one of most reproduced and copied paintings, and its creation in 1495-1497 is considered to have heralded a new phase in the history of art, one of the reasons why you will always find it on any lists of the best things to do in Milan, given its unique cultural significance.

Despite the damages that occurred during the World War II, the complex has preserved both its original architectural structure and the internal relation between its components, including the famous fresco.

The site was badly damaged by bombing in 1943, but subsequently completely restored and renovated. The Last Supper, which miraculously survived the Allied bombing during the World War II, suffers from other conservation problems which are due, above all, to Leonardo’s experimental technique.

There are records of restoration works from the eighteenth century up to the present day, which bear witness to the continuing concern regarding the conservation of this artistic heritage.

One of the most important and difficult aspects of the conservation of the fresco is related to the pollution caused by the great number of visitors, for this reason Last Supper painting tickets can be often sold out months in advance. Continual monitoring is performed to guarantee optimum atmospheric conditions inside the refectory and thus avoid the danger posed by air pollution and elevated visitor numbers.

A sophisticated monitoring device ensures that the air composition and the light and humidity levels remain within the established limits. A limited number of visitors are admitted at any one time, so don’t hesitate to contact us to book one of the most culturally important private tours of Italy that we can organize for you with a private guide in a language you prefer and guaranteed skip-the-line Last Supper tickets.

UNESCO World Heritage since 1980.