Santa Maria delle Grazie is a Dominican church and convent in the Sant'Ambrogio neighbourhood of Milan, constructed between 1463 and 1497. The original Gothic structure was commissioned by Galeazzo Maria Sforza and built under the direction of architect Guiniforte Solari. In 1492, Ludovico Sforza — Duke of Milan and one of the Renaissance's most ambitious patrons — ordered a dramatic expansion: the architect Donato Bramante redesigned and added the tribune, the apse, and the sacristy, replacing Solari's choir. Bramante's addition is considered a landmark of Early Renaissance architecture in Lombardy, distinguished by its austere terracotta exterior, the monumental cylindrical drum, and the serene geometric clarity of its interior spaces. The church was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, jointly with Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper housed in its former refectory.
The Last Supper (Il Cenacolo), painted by Leonardo da Vinci between approximately 1495 and 1498 on the north wall of the convent's refectory, is among the most studied works in Western art. Unlike traditional fresco technique — which requires painting on wet plaster — Leonardo applied tempera and oil over a double layer of dry plaster primed with gesso and pitch, seeking greater control over detail and tone. This experimental method proved fragile almost immediately; deterioration was noted as early as 1517 by the writer Antonio de Beatis. The mural measures 4.6 by 8.8 metres and depicts the moment described in the Gospel of John 13:21 when Christ announces that one of the apostles will betray him, capturing twelve individual psychological reactions simultaneously. A 21-year restoration completed in 1999 removed centuries of repainting and stabilised the original pigment layers, revealing Leonardo's actual colour palette for the first time in generations.
Inside the church itself, visitors encounter Bramante's tribune — a space of striking spatial calm, with a low-lit hemispherical dome, pale stone pilasters, and terracotta detailing that contrasts with the darker Gothic nave. The decorative lunettes in the refectory, painted by Leonardo's workshop, survive alongside the main mural. During World War II, Allied bombing in August 1943 destroyed much of the convent but left the refectory wall bearing the Last Supper intact — a survival attributed partly to the sandbag protection installed by Italian cultural authorities and partly to structural luck, as the roof had been removed and the wall stood exposed to the sky.
Access to the Last Supper is strictly controlled: groups of no more than 25 visitors are admitted for 15-minute timed slots, passing through a series of climate-controlled antechambers to stabilise temperature and humidity before entering the refectory. Tickets routinely sell out months in advance and must be booked through the official Cenacolo Vinciano website (cenacolovinciano.org). Entry to the church itself is free and requires no reservation. The complex is located at Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie 2, reachable by metro on the M1 (red) line at the Conciliazione stop.
