Milan has two things that everybody wants to see and they could not be more different as visits. One is a wall in a refectory, painted by Leonardo in a technique that started deteriorating almost immediately, seen now by small groups for a short time in a climate-controlled room booked months ahead. The other is a mountain of white marble in the middle of the city that you can climb and walk across. Between them they are a day, and one of them will decide when you come to Milan.
The Last Supper
What it is. A mural on the end wall of the dining hall of a Dominican convent, painted in the 1490s, showing the moment after Christ tells the apostles that one of them will betray him.
It is fragile. Leonardo used a technique that did not bond properly with the wall, and the painting began to deteriorate within his lifetime. Everything about how it is shown now follows from that.
Access is strictly limited. Small groups, timed entry, a short visit, and airlock doors and climate control between you and the outside.
Booking is the whole problem. Slots are released in batches through the official system and are taken quickly, particularly for weekends and holidays.
It is worth the effort. People go in sceptical about a short visit to a damaged painting and come out quiet, which is about as good a review as an artwork gets.
The Duomo
What it is. A gothic cathedral in white marble that took roughly six centuries to finish, bristling with spires and thousands of statues, standing on the main square of a modern city.
The interior is enormous, dim and forested with columns, and it is free of the crowd pressure you get at the more famous churches further south.
The roof is the reason to come. You go up among the spires and walk the marble terraces, close enough to see the carving, with the city below and the Alps on a clear day.
Tickets are layered: cathedral, roof by stairs, roof by lift, museum and archaeological area, sold separately and in combinations. Read what yours includes.
Stairs or lift is a real choice. The stairs are a genuine climb and cheaper; the lift is quick and costs more.
Dress code and security both apply at the entrance.
Doing both in a day
Morning: the Duomo, starting with the roof before the marble heats up and the terraces fill.
Middle of the day: the arcade beside the cathedral, which is a nineteenth-century glass-roofed shopping gallery and a sight in its own right, then lunch.
Afternoon: your booked mural slot, allowing real time to cross the city, since the refectory is a tram ride west of the centre and late arrivals are not admitted.
Evening: aperitivo, which in Milan is early, generous and the best value eating in the city.
Practical notes
Arrive early for your mural slot, because entry is by group and a missed one is not rescheduled.
Bags are restricted at both and there is limited storage.
The cathedral roof is exposed, so sun cover in summer and a layer in winter.
Photography is not permitted in the refectory and is fine on the roof.
Free entry days at Italian state museums do not simplify the mural, since the limiting factor there is capacity rather than price.
Where these fit in a trip
These two are the fixed points of a Milan stay and everything else in the city arranges itself around them.
For how much time Milan actually needs and how to combine it with the lakes an hour north, our guide to Milan and the lakes covers the structure of the trip.
For the equivalent pair of must-book museums further south, and the same warning about resellers and timed slots, our guide to the Uffizi and the Accademia covers Florence.
And for the wider groundwork of a first Italian trip, our first-time guide to Italy covers the trains, the eating hours and the opening times this article assumes.
The short version
Book the Last Supper before you book your flights, because the slot decides your dates and nothing else in Milan does. Give the mural a short focused visit and arrive early, since late entry is refused. Do the cathedral in the morning, buy the roof ticket, and take the stairs if your knees allow because it is cheaper and better. Read what each Duomo ticket actually includes before buying. And keep the afternoon of your mural day free of anything else, since crossing Milan takes longer than the map suggests.
