Come face-to-face with a masterpiece that can be viewed nowhere else on this visit to the church of Santa Maria delle Gazie. Skip the lines with a timed-entry ticket, and step inside with a guide to look at the luminous fresco of The Last Supper, which the artist painted between 1495 and 1498.

Meet your guide outside of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie and listen to some commentary on the background of the famed painting and the 15th-century convent that houses it. When it's your turn to enter, head inside for your 15-minute visit.

On the wall of the refectory, Leonardo da Vinci painted the mural of The Last Supper. Admire the faded hues of the fresco as you study the facial expressions of each of the apostles as they respond to Jesus' pronouncement that one among them will betray them. Hear how da Vinci's decision to experiment with painting on a dry wall rather than using traditional fresco techniques resulted in the slow deterioration of the painting over time—the fragility of the work is one of the reasons that visits are strictly regulated and limited to 1 group at a time.