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Showing posts with the label Cenacolo Vinciano

The Last Supper

Viewing of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper is carefully controlled, so as to maintain an environment conducive to its continued survival. Only a few people are allowed in at a time and you're unlikely to get in without an advance reservation. I had one for the first appointment of the day at 8:15, and they instruct you to show up 15 minutes early. This in itself is remarkable since, for the most part, nothing seems to happen or open in Italy before 9am. I left my hotel in plenty of time and walked the short distance to Santa Maria delle Grazie . Most everything was closed, but I found an open caffe near the church and got my morning standing cappuccino (I recently learned that the Italian word for caffe has two f's). I stood outside the Cenacolo Vinciano with other early tourists. At precisely 8am, the wood door retracted into the sidewalk, a startling high tech feature built into an ancient building. Inside, they were all efficiency, checking our reserv...