How long do you get to see the Last Supper?

Fifteen minutes, on a timed slot, with a maximum of forty people in the room. That is the whole visit as far as the refectory goes, and it applies to everybody: the same quarter of an hour whether you bought at face value from the official site or paid several times that on a tour. There is no extension, no re-entry and no lingering — the next group is already waiting behind the climate-controlled doors while you are inside. Some tours add hours of Milan around it, but none of them adds a minute in front of the wall.

Time in the refectory15 minutes

People per slotMax 40

EntryTimed slot only

Re-entryNone

Tour lengths1–6 h

Time on the wallIdentical on all

What fifteen minutes feels like

Shorter than the number suggests, because the first two or three go on orientation: working out where to stand, letting your eyes adjust, taking in that the wall is the whole end of the room. If nobody has told you what to look for, you spend the middle of the slot deciding, and the last few minutes hurrying. If you walk in knowing the twelve are arranged in four groups of three and that the subject is the announcement of the betrayal, the same quarter of an hour is comfortably enough to read all four — which is exactly what what you actually see is for.

What works

Everybody gets the same slot, so nobody is buying a better visit
Fifteen concentrated minutes is enough if you know the task in advance
The timed system means no queue and no crush at the door

Worth knowing

It is genuinely short, and the visit does not build to anything
Up to forty people share the room on your slot
Longer tours add Milan, not time in front of the painting

Insider tip

Have your question ready before you walk in. In a slot this short, the difference between a good visit and a flat one is usually whether somebody told you what to look at in the first thirty seconds.

Planning the rest of the day around it

Treat the refectory as a fifteen-minute fixed point and build outwards. The one-hour ticket-and-guide option leaves your day free; the three-hour walking tours fill a morning with the centre of Milan. Whether the short version is the right call is the argument on the worth-it page, and the six options are on the comparison page.

Check the flexible-length tour

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Frequently asked questions

How long do you get in front of the Last Supper?

Fifteen minutes, on a timed slot with a maximum of forty people in the room. It is the same for every ticket type and every tour.

Can you stay longer if it is quiet?

No. The slots run back to back and the next group is already waiting behind the climate-controlled doors, so the fifteen minutes is enforced rather than nominal.

Do longer tours give you more time with the painting?

They do not. A three-hour tour adds a guided walk of Milan around the same fifteen-minute slot. The differences are set out on the tours page.