I have been trying to purchase tickets for the Last Supper in Milan from what I thought was the direct web site: vivatickets.it for a couple of weeks now, believing that tickets were released ~90 days in advanced. But the only tickets released are thru March, and they were released back on December 2, 2014 ! Is this still the website for direct ticket purchases? If so, does anyone know what is going on? Should call instead of using the website? Any advice other then to use an agency that charges 5x the direct purchase price? thanks much!
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
That is the correct web site. If booking has not yet opened online for your date, then I would not call. The better time to call is when booking is open but appears sold out. I would check again in another week.
Posted by
Faribault
224 posts
You probably are too early if you are going to be in Milan in May. I couldn't purchase my tickets for the first week in Sept. until the first week in June. I kept checking that website to see when the dates that I wanted were going to be sold. However, I couldn't order them online as it showed that the dates that I needed were sold out. Also, it will probably take a few calls before you are able to talk to a representative. Don't give up!
Posted by
Vignola, MO, IT
711 posts
I bought them last year online exactly 90 days in advance. I had no problems.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
The work of art has been in poor condition since shortly after it was finished. It is an amazing piece of art and history (the building was nearly destroyed by bombing in WWII), if you have an opportunity to see it, go! Part of the appreciation for artistic and historic patrimony is the way it connects the viewer to the ages that have passed.
Come to think of it, the Roman Forum is in poor condition, too ;-)
Posted by
693 posts
Don't stress. Just check the website every few days. Many Italian attractions seem to work like this - with tickets released in blocks. For example, from late December you could buy tickets for the Colosseum third ring and underground tours up to the end of February (about 60 days out). However, it is now nearly the end of January and you still cannot buy tickets for the tour in early March (about 30 days away).
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
As a professor of Theology and Christian Art, I have often been inspired by a photograph in a book of a piece of art. I've taken trains, buses, and taxis to get to some out of the way places. There is really no substitute for seeing art in person, hopefully in the place it was intended to be seen.
If it's not that important for you personally, don't go just because you were told you have to see it; art and its impact is personal, as the last few posts have shown.
I never was interested in seeing the Mona Lisa, but when I decided to look at it rather than pass it by at the Louvre, I was surprised at how much more alive the work is in person than in pictures, and the impression it made on me.
Posted by
Land of La
9344 posts
"Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how was the play?" Tom, curious as to what you were expecting when you saw The Last Supper. The moment Da Vinci completed this work it started to deteriorate because it was on exterior wall and exposed to humidity. That it survives in any shape or form considering at one point a door was cut through is amazing. Besides, SO MUCH easier to see than the Mona Lisa which IMHO is the biggest rip off in art history.
When I viewed The Last Supper a few years ago had the entire room to myself and a guard . Personally one of the best travel moments in my life! Couldn't take my eyes off it.