Travel Tip - Santa Maria delle Grazie

Construction on this unique church began during the gothic period and was completed during the Renaissance, but it’s not so much the building’s beautifully crafted architecture that draws tourists by the thousands, as what’s inside Santa Maria delle Grazie’s Cenacolo Viciano. It is in this dining hall that Leonardo Da Vinci’s infamous fresco, The Last Supper, was painted in 1494. Thanks to its last restoration, which took 20 years to complete, the painting is in wonderful condition and truly awe-inspiring. But this awing experience doesn’t come cheap or easy. Only a limited amount of visitors are allowed in to view the fresco each day, so you should book your visit a minimum of two weeks in advance (minimum of a month in the summer).

The pleasure of seeing the work that spawned Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code will cost you 8 Euros, although visiting the rest of the church is free.