Last Supper in Milan, is it all in hands of illegal resellers??

tickets are available

https://cenacolovinciano.vivaticket.it/i?qubsq=64fe6a54-60ac-4a17-9fb9-361cf59d1470&qubsp=65697629-9b9d-4f3c-99c6-06920a92e7c4&qubsts=1703313702&qubsc=bestunion&qubse=vivaticketoperator&qubsrt=Safetynet&qubsh=7540bdb39ffe6845add1c896a217729f#

Unethical? Yes.

Illegal? Apparently not, as sleazy corporate scalpers swoop in and grab tickets at other places, too, the instant that tickets seem to be available. Try getting tickets for the Borghese Gallery or the Vatican Museums … it’s possible, but you’re up against “Resellers” (organized scalpers) that apparently have faster computers and experience snagging tickets.

If only they got stuck with tickets, and no one wanted to purchase them at the inflated price, or purchase their tours. But demand exceeds the available supply through official channels, so the scalpers thrive. If it was drugs, Viator and others would be seen as pushers. But since it’s admission to museums and sights with acclaimed art, they’re just running a business, and customers keep flocking to whomever can get them a fix.

Dear ramblin' on, I have an official answer from the office of Cenacolo which says ALL MONTH OF FEBRUARY IS SOLD OUT. So effectively there are NO tickets. It is an official source. What you are looking at, is a COMBINED TICKET which includes the earphones and a guide. So instead of 15 euros, you pay 1 euro for the earphones and 8 euros for a guide, a total of 24 euros. It is NOT what we need. We want to buy the tickets. We have our own licensed guide with us, as well as earphones. Another thing, even these combined tickets are very few. So obviously the resellers have taken all the slots of just tickets for 15 euro, and you need to be happy with the rest of the tickets which are sold only with an extra guide.

Dear CYN, you are right. All the tickets for Vatican Museums are in the hands of resellers. It is such a bad practice but it is all real. My friends had to use the services of the resellers and pay triple the price of the tickets, just because they desperately wanted to see the Museums, and there was no official way to buy tickets. By the way, these resellers feel quite comfortable and do not hide themselves, quite the contrary!!! They have a website, call service, and accept credit cards. No problems. They decide the price as it goes, how they feel this day. I repeat that it seems VERY UNFAIR to give the possibility to all these illegal resellers to make a highly profitable business of selling tickets to the Vatican and the Last Supper in Milan, sacred sights in Italy. Fortunately, there is still Uffizi where the resellers do not feast on tourists.

My guess is that the OP is looking at a 3rd party website. The official website, as shared already by 2 previous posters, does show lots and lots of availability for February 8 and other days in February. At the moment I’m writing this, only 3 days in February are now sold out.
For February 8, some time slots only have the €24 tickets available, but as of right now there are still time slots that have availability for the regular €15 tickets.
I suggest the OP to follow the link to the official website and get the tickets asap.

Using the link provided by Gail, 21 of the 25 days it is open in Feb., has availability for tickets. ( Suspect Sunday the 4th is a free 1st Sunday of the month)
If your party is 8 or more, there is availability for 20 of the 24 days of the month.

There are tickets for Feb., if you have a bit of flexibility

This is how it has been for years. Resellers can get in as soon as ticket sales open up. But you can still buy tickets.

They may not be at the best times, and then you might also have to take the audioguide. But the last requirement is not a third party seller. It is the official seller.

It is not illegal. You are going to find many places in Europe that operate the exact same way.

When I bought tickets to the Last Supper, I used the official website and it stated what day tickets would be on sale. I got up at 9 AM Milan time to get online and buy what I wanted because I knew the resellers would be there as well.

I'm seeing the same as Joe: 20 days in February are showing ticket availability, and a few slots on the 8th are still open for non-guided visits: 8:15, 14:45, 17:15, These tickets DO tend to sell out quickly - so those open slots may be gone by the time you get to them - but that's not unusual for ANY of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy. The website also states, "Didn’t you find any available tickets for your visit? Check availabilities on the website often, since it is updated every day."

As well, on 12/27 they are going to increase the amount of tickets available for purchase in 2024 for 2 time slots every hour.
https://cenacolovinciano.org/en/news-ed-eventi/increase-in-visitors-allowed-at-the-leonardo-da-vincis-last-supper-museum/

If you'd told them well in advance that you wanted to see the L.S, I'm curious why your licensed guide didn't obtain those tickets for all of you? i'm sure other guides have done so, and may have needed to get up very early/watch the website closely to obtain them for own clients.

https://cenacolovinciano.vivaticket.it/eng/info/guidaturistica

All the tickets for Vatican Museums are in the hands of resellers.

Not the case, and especially not this year when the museums will be extending their hours to accommodate more visitors, I know you're not going to Rome on Feb 8th but if you were, I'm seeing base-price adult admission tickets available right now on the official website for all time slots (altho a couple are showing low availability). For high season or holidays visits, tickets sell out much more quickly; your friends likely just waited too long to book.

https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/eventi-e-novita/notizie/2024/nuove-norme-ingresso-musei-vaticani.html

I too see lots of tickets available for February, nearly every day. Yes, many of them are for the visit with a guide, but some people above have fond the regular 16 euro tickets as well.

The OP must not be using the correct website for purchase.

First time poster with a Festivus grievance

Let’s see if OP returns

LOL!!! Completely forgot that today is Festivus! 🤣

Why does one need a guide for the 15 minutes you're allowed inside the room? Its pretty obvious what you're supposed to look at. The 3rd party tours seem to mostly be about transportation and other added sights, which I thought was worth it when we did it. .

"Why does one need a guide for the 15 minutes you're allowed inside the room?"

"I'm not sure how a guide could be talking in front of the picture. Perhaps they educate prior to entry?"

I did the guided tour the site offers for the extra 8E. The guide provided us with whispersets started talking as soon as we exited the entrance area to explain the history of the fresco, about frescoes, about Leonardo. Inside the refectory where the fresco is located she pointed out who various figures were, various art related points about perspective, etc. At the end she talked about the damage from WWII, restoration process, etc. I thought it was completely worthwhile to have the guide from the actual site and very inexpensive for the amount of material she gave us.

And yes, Happy Festivus to all, lol!!

There are actually official "partners" that have the right to buy some of the tickets. Mostly tour companies, agencies etc, and there is another part that is reserved for individuals, so it's not like it is an illegal activity, companies have a signed contract with the official ticket seller, and not a cheap one.

The selling dates are always a mystery, for tour companies as well, there are always burocratic reasons behind the sell dates.

Private guides are not permitted to speak inside. Only the official guides may. Private guides can answer any questions, provide detail, history etc. outside.

Why does one need a guide for the 15 minutes you're allowed inside the room? Its pretty obvious what you're supposed to look at.

stan, it may be obvious what you're supposed to look at, but when we went we had a guide, and we were very glad we did. Our experience was very similar to Pam's; our guide provided us with insights we would not have had on our own, primarily about the details of the fresco, as well as certain symbolic elements. I don't know if I knew beforehand that one of the reasons the painting has not held up well is because Leonardo was experimenting with fresco, and used what turned out to be an inferior technique.

She also explained the saving of the fresco during WWII, as well as the most recent restoration, which corrected some "improvements" of earlier attempts at restoration.

I've learned that having a guide is well worth the cost, if one can afford it. There is always more to learn.

@Jane, thanks. I wasn't making a snarky comment, honestly. When we did this (on a third-party tour) the guide who showed us around everywhere else (La Scala, Galleria, Duomo) stayed outside and waited for us at the Last Supper. I inferred that if you bought tickets directly, you'd be on your own.

When we went in 2019 I booked our tickets with www.milan-museum.com which I see has ticked for Feb 8. Back then it was 56.50 Euro for 2. I'm glad we went but it wasn't all that spectacular. We had one day in Milan after our Village Italy tour and I think that was enough.

Private guides are allowed inside, and can explain to their customers. There is only one guide allowed power group so if it's officially a guided time slot no private guides would be allowed. Otherwise it's ok

By the way, these resellers feel quite comfortable and do not hide themselves, quite the contrary!!! They have a website, call service, and accept credit cards.

Whew, I'm so glad to hear they accept credit cards! I was worried they were a bunch of tax cheats.

Tickets for the following quarter (three months) go on sale the 19th of the month preceding that period.

I just bought tickets, and while it wasn’t easy, there were plenty available. I purchased through cenacolovinciano, the official website.

Be prepared to create an account, verify your account, navigate through many windows, and have your credit card ready. It took maybe half-an-hour.

And you must be present 30 minutes before your tour time, and bring a passport or other appropriate identification.

So we have another first-time poster with a rant about something, who then disappears from view. I'm not sure what these people are doing or what their objective is (unless it's just trolling) but there really seems to be a pattern of this lately.