The Last Supper: 15 minutes, 40 people a slot

A visit to Leonardo's Last Supper lasts 15 minutes for a maximum of 40 people per slot, which is the whole reason tickets are so hard to get (2026).

15 minutes, 40 people: the arithmetic of scarcity

Each turn lasts 15 minutes and admits at most 40 people. Multiply that across an opening day and you have the ceiling on how many people can ever see the painting.

No pricing trick and no reseller changes that ceiling. When a site tells you it has guaranteed availability, it is holding slots from the same fixed supply.

The room is a refectory with a climate to protect, not a gallery. The cap is conservation, not queue management.

The 4 quarterly releases

Tickets are released on a quarterly cycle: September opens the November to January window, December opens February to April, March opens May to July, and June opens August to October (2026).

Plan against that calendar rather than against your departure date. If you are traveling in May and it is already April, the quarterly window closed in March and you are down to the weekly mechanism below.

Wednesday at 12:00, 215 extra tickets a day

Every Wednesday at 12:00 Italian time the museum puts online 215² extra tickets a day for the following week, sold through the online channel only.

That is the second chance, and for anyone booking under a month out it is the only realistic one. Convert noon in Milan into your own clock before Wednesday, not on the day.

Italy runs UTC+1 in winter and UTC+2 in summer, and the switch dates do not match the American ones.

€15, and booking is compulsory even when entry is free

The ticket costs €15 full and €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25 (2026). Under-18s enter free.

Free does not mean walk-in. Booking is compulsory for every category, the free ones included, so a child with a €0 entitlement still occupies a reserved place in a 40-person slot.

Two independent official sources agree on this price and this rule, which is rare enough to be worth saying.

Be there 30 minutes early

Turn up at least 30 minutes before your booked time. Whoever is not present by then loses the right to enter, and with 40 places on a 15-minute rotation the slot does not wait.

Milan traffic and the walk from Cadorna are the two things that eat that half hour. Treat the booked time as the moment the door shuts, not the moment you arrive.

Hours, and the Monday problem

The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15 am to 7 pm, with last entry at 6:45 pm (08:15 to 19:00 and 18:45 on Italian signs). It closes on Mondays, January 1 and December 25 (2026).

A Monday in Milan is a real constraint on a short stay. Our page on what is closed on Mondays sets out how widespread the habit is.

The painting: 1494 to 1497, and why it is fading

Leonardo painted it between 1494⁵ and 1497⁵ on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie, at 460⁵ by 880⁵ centimeters.

He worked in a dry technique rather than in true fresco, and that choice is the cause of the early deterioration. It is why the room is controlled and the slots are short, five centuries later.

The complex of Santa Maria delle Grazie with the Last Supper has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1980.

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