The Last Supper sells out two months in advance. Plan accordingly.

Most people come to Milan for fashion or business and leave slightly stunned by how much art they stumbled into. The Duomo alone takes the better part of a morning if you do it properly — interior, rooftop terraces, the archaeological crypt underneath. Add the Last Supper, Sforza Castle and the Brera gallery and you have a city that punches well above its tourist reputation.

The problem is logistics. Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper is housed in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie and entry is capped at 30 people per 15-minute slot. In practice this means the painting sells out 6 to 8 weeks ahead in summer. There is no walk-up option. None. If you arrive in Milan without a pre-booked ticket you will not see it. This is not an exaggeration.

The Duomo is more forgiving, but not much. Queues hit 90 minutes on busy July days. The rooftop terrace — one of the best vantage points in northern Italy — requires its own separate ticket and has its own separate queue. Buy both online before you leave home.

What to book, and why

Duomo di Milano — Cathedral interior and rooftop are ticketed separately. The roof at late afternoon puts the Gothic spires between you and the Alps in low golden light. Worth going back twice if you can.

The Last Supper (Cenacolo Vinciano) — Book the moment you know your travel dates. Seriously. A licensed guided tour is often your only option once standard tickets are gone, and frequently includes access that individual slots don’t have.

Sforza Castle — Michelangelo’s final work, the Pietà Rondanini, is here. Most people walk past it on the way to the Duomo. Don’t. Pre-booked entry skips the weekend queues.

Pinacoteca di Brera — Raphael, Caravaggio, Mantegna in a 17th-century palazzo in one of Milan’s nicest neighbourhoods. Timed entry means the rooms stay quiet. A different experience from the main tourist circuit and a better one for it.

A few things worth knowing

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — the iron-and-glass arcade next to the Duomo — is free to walk through and one of the most beautiful 19th-century interiors in Europe. The rooftop tour of the Galleria is less well-known than the Duomo roof and considerably less crowded.

Avoid Milan in August if you can. The city empties of locals and fills with tourists in heat that makes the Duomo queue genuinely unpleasant. April, May and September are the months when the city is at its best: comfortable, beautiful and much easier to navigate.