Florence - Refectory of Sant'Apollonia

(Local Name: Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia) The former convent of Sant'Apollonia, which was secularised in 1808, then used as a military storehouse and which now houses part of the university, is worth visiting on account of its interesting church and the beautiful cloister with its graceful 15th century columns. The Coenaculum of St Apollonia, the convent's refectory, is now a museum. Previously inaccessible because of the nuns' seclusion, the Benedictine convent's refectory holds Andrea del Castagno's "Last Supper" (c. 1457). This fresco has an important place in Renaissance painting: the accuracy of its perspective and the realistic physical vigour of the figures (especially Jesus and the figure of Judas sitting apart from the others) makes the picture intensely dramatic.

Also interesting are, above it, Castagno's "Crucifixion", "Entombment" and "Resurrection" and his two lunettes "Pietà" and "Christ crucified with the Virgin, St John and Saints".