Church in Milan

Six hundred years in the building and carrying more statues than any other church in the world. The interior is free and surprisingly dim; the reason to buy a ticket is the roof, where you walk among the spires and buttresses with the Alps visible on a clear day. Lifts and stairs are priced separately. Shoulders and knees must be covered.

Milan's oldest church, largely eleventh-century, and the model for Romanesque building across Lombardy — a colonnaded atrium, two mismatched towers, almost no decoration. Free, calm, and a complete change of register from the cathedral. Worth the twenty-minute walk out from the centre.

The Dominican convent whose refectory wall carries Leonardo's Last Supper. The painting is a separate, strictly timed visit — a quarter of an hour, a couple of dozen people, and slots that go weeks ahead, which is the single most common booking mistake on a Milan trip. The church itself is free and quiet.