Travel Tips - Essential-sights in Italy

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.

Quite possibly one of Europe’s most beautiful cathedrals, Milan’s Il Duomo is the second largest Catholic cathedral in the world and the Italian city’s astonishing centerpiece.

If its monumental size isn’t enough to awe visitors, its amazingly ornate façade will. Construction on this cathedral, which can hold up to 40,000 visitors, began in 1386 and wasn’t completed until 1805, making it a favorite of architecture buffs who can spend hours hunting for the additions from each period of the building’s 400 year construction history. The cathedral’s interior is comparable to other European cathedrals; however, the stained glass windows are of particular interest. And hands down the best Milan duomo experience is visiting its roof. Stairs and pathways line the roof so that visitors can witness a beautiful bird’s eye view of the city and get a closer look at the ornamentation of the cathedral’s turrets.

True to its name, L’Antico Caffe is Rome’s oldest coffee shop, and one of the most ancient in the world. Dating back to the 18th century, take a trip down memory lane and sip a cappuccino or latte macchiato on one of the marble tables and velvet chairs where Geothe and Casanova once sat.