🇮🇹The Last Supper Tickets 2026: How the Quarterly Release Works, and What to Do When It Sells Out
The hardest ticket in Europe to get. The exact months tickets are released, the Wednesday restock almost nobody writes about, the five-per-person annual cap, and the three routes left when the standard tickets have gone.
2026-08-18
The Last Supper — Il Cenacolo — is painted on the refectory wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery and was finished between 1495 and 1498. It isn't a fresco in the usual sense: Leonardo used tempera and oil on dry plaster, which let him rework it endlessly but meant it began flaking within a few years of completion. It has been restored many times over five centuries.
This is the hardest ticket in Europe to get hold of. Not "book early in high season" hard — sold out within minutes of the midday release hard. Here's how the system actually works.
Why it's so difficult
It isn't just fame. It's a physical ceiling:
- To protect the painting, the room is climate-controlled and you pass through air-lock chambers on the way in
- Groups of 40 maximum, 15 minutes inside, and everyone is cleared out on the dot
- Everyone needs a reservation — infants included, free tickets included. The on-site desk only validates existing bookings and sells nothing
That works out to very few people per day. In March 2024 the museum raised groups from 35 to 40 and added 215 slots a day, and it still isn't close to enough.
The three booking channels
1. Online — cenacolovinciano.vivaticket.it or lastsupper.shop, maximum 5 tickets per order. This is what almost everyone uses.
2. By phone — +39 02 92800360, up to 9 tickets. Italian and English. Useful for a family group of six to nine.
3. By email — cenacologruppi@adartem.art, for groups of 10 or more only.
The quarterly release: four months to remember
Tickets go on sale quarterly, four times a year:
| Release month | Covers |
|---|---|
| September | November, December, January |
| December | February, March, April |
| March | May, June, July |
| June | August, September, October |
The exact date is announced on the museum's news page a few days beforehand, and sales always open at midday, Italian time.
Two real examples from 2026: tickets for May–August went on sale at noon on Tuesday 24 March; tickets for September–December went on sale at noon on Tuesday 23 June.
So this is the one sight in Europe you have to plan around six months backwards. Going to Milan next May? You need to be at your keyboard this March.
The Wednesday restock — the real second chance
Most guides skip this, and it's the single most useful thing here if your dates are already fixed:
Every Wednesday at midday, the site releases returned tickets for the following week.
These come from cancellations, released agency allocations, and slots the museum holds back. There aren't many, but it happens every week, and only online.
In practice: if your trip is booked but you missed the quarterly release, set a recurring alarm for Wednesday midday and keep checking. The closer you get to your date, the more cancellations come back.
Free days work differently
The first Sunday of the month is free, but you still need a reservation, and the rules are their own:
- Free tickets are released the preceding Wednesday at midday, online only
- Five per person maximum
- No groups on free days, and no guided tours or workshops — licensed guides are not permitted to lead visits either
The museum's own wording is that demand is so high it can't guarantee availability. If you only get one shot at this, don't stake it on a free day — you save €15 and probably don't get in.
Hard rules that void your ticket
Five tickets per person per year. A calendar-year cap, aimed at resellers.
Tickets are in your name. You enter each visitor's name when you book, and names cannot be changed afterwards.
No date changes, no time changes, no refunds. Payment locks everything.
You must collect your ticket in person 30 minutes before your slot. Arrive late and you lose your place with no refund. The collection desk is beside the museum entrance and you exchange your payment confirmation there. This is what catches people out most often — plenty of visitors turn up at their booked time and are refused.
No large bags inside. There are lockers at the collection desk (60-minute limit) but very few: thirty at 30×45×32 cm, eight at 25×36×32, eight at 25×36×66, plus two larger ones. Travel light if you can; food and drink are also banned inside.
The Last Supper guided tour with entry
GetYourGuide · from $86
4.7 from 10,644 reviews. Includes entry, a licensed guide and headsets, with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. Tours draw on a separate allocation from individual tickets, so there's often availability here when the standard tickets have gone — the trade-off is the price against the €15 official ticket, and the guiding is in English only. You'll need each participant's real name at checkout; ID is checked on the day
This is an affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Prices
| Category | Age | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | 25 and over | €15 |
| Reduced | 18–25 | €2 |
| Free | Under 18 | Free |
The reduced rate is €2, which is unusually generous by European standards — if you qualify, make sure you pick the right ticket type. Reduced and free tickets still need a reservation.
What to do when it's sold out
In descending order of success rate:
1. Switch to a guided tour. On the official sales page, flip from "Tickets" to "Guided Tours" — these draw on a separate allocation, and there are frequently places when individual tickets have gone. It costs more than €15, but the certainty is worth a lot. Third-party platforms mostly sell this same guided allocation.
2. Camp on the Wednesday restock. As above — the most realistic option once your dates are set.
3. Refresh the official site more than once a day. The museum states availability updates daily; returns flow back into stock continuously, not only on Wednesdays.
4. Settle for a contemporary copy. Several full-size sixteenth-century copies survive around Milan, one of them displayed at the Museo Leonardo3. It's a reasonable way to study the composition — though honestly it isn't the same as standing in front of the wall.
Visitor information
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15–19:00, last entry 18:45. The collection desk runs 8:00–18:45.
Closed: Mondays, 1 January and 25 December.
Time needed: fifteen minutes inside. With the 30-minute collection window, budget an hour overall.
Address: Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie 2.
Getting there
Metro: M1 (red) to Cadorna or Conciliazione; M2 (green) to Cadorna. Under ten minutes on foot from either.
Tram and bus: tram 16 stops at S. Maria delle Grazie; buses 50 and 169 stop on Via Boccaccio.
Driving: this area sits inside the Area C congestion charge zone — take the metro. There's a taxi rank at Via Ruffini 1, opposite the collection desk.
FAQ
Is fifteen minutes enough?
Yes. There's one painting — plus Montorfano's Crucifixion on the opposite wall, a contemporary work most visitors never notice. Fifteen minutes covers seeing it and photographing it. Do your reading beforehand with the museum's free app so you can just look once you're inside.
Can I take photographs?
Stills yes, without flash. Video is not allowed — phone video included; staff will stop you.
Do babies and children need tickets?
Yes. The museum says explicitly that infants are included, and free tickets still occupy a reservation slot.
Can I change the date after booking?
No. Date, time and names are all locked, and there are no refunds.
Are third-party tickets legitimate?
Platforms like GetYourGuide mostly sell guided places drawn from the allocation of Ad Artem, the official authorised operator, so yes. Just check whether the listing includes a guide — plain entry tickets are essentially unavailable through third parties.
The Last Supper is usually best kept separate from Milan Cathedral by half a day; for a one- or two-day plan see the Milan travel guide. If you're chasing an early slot, staying near Cadorna makes the morning much easier.
Rules follow information published by the Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano (cenacolovinciano.org) in August 2026. Release dates are announced quarterly — check the museum's news page before you plan around them.