There is so much to see in Milan, one post cannot cover it all. This post covers three churches that really are worth a visit (in addition to the Milan Cathedral), along with a couple other spots we enjoyed, shown at the end of the post.
Santa Maria delle Grazie – The Last Supper
This is a 15th century convent, and home of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper (known in Italian as Cenacolo), one of his most famous works of art and unfortunately one that has not stood up well to the test of time, due to the experimental technique Leonardo used – painting on dry plaster rather than wet. The fresco started deteriorating almost immediately. Also, the church was bombed in World War II but amazingly the wall with this painting survived intact – thank goodness.
Note: You must have a reservation to see the Last Supper; we booked our tickets in March for a May trip. Reservations can only be made 60 days in advance, and a limited number of people are allowed to see the painting at one time (groups of 25 or so). The small group was great, because it did not feel crowded in the room, but you are only allowed 15 minutes in the refectory and then ushered out. The site to secure your tickets/reservations is here. The Convent is west of the Milan’s center, we took a metro train to the nearest stop and walked about 15 minutes to the Convent.
Sant’ Ambrogio (St. Ambrose)
This church is named after a 4th century bishop of Milan. I loved this old Church, which is a bit off the main tourist route. It’s ancient (the current 11th century structure is built on top of the original 4th century church), and houses a priceless 9th century altar decorated with gold, silver and precious stones.
San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore
This monastery, which no longer serves as a church, is now a free art museum. The interior is stunning, and it would take weeks to absorb all the artwork.
Sforza Castle
With everything else we were doing in our short time in Milan, we did not take the time to visit the interior of this castle which is now a museum. It is massive, and impressive from the exterior.The castle is just two metro stops northwest of the main piazza.
Milan’s Canals
If you really want to get off the beaten track, check out Milan’s canals. I didn’t even know that Milan had canals, but we discovered these in our exploration of Milan. No tourists out here, and we found a great little shop with a variety of Arancini (or Arancina) that we had to sample!