The Place
A scant 30 seconds away from the tourist-powered mayhem that radiates outwards from Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of Leonardo’s Cenacolo, Antica Locanda Leonardo presents a rather drab and faintly inauspicious exterior to the outside world. But don’t be dismayed: as you cross the threshold of the front door on the courtyard, you enter a different world. The light, bright entrance hall has a cool pale grey mosaic floor with an attractive stone staircase rising gently to the first floor. Beyond the hall is a pale yellow living room which in turn gives on to a small, peaceful and tree-shaded private terrace with a white-painted wrought-iron table, chairs and a love seat.
Upstairs are the small reception, the breakfast room and all the bedrooms. With the sensible exception of the corridor passing the bedrooms, all the floors are polished wood and the furniture and beds made of rose or cherry wood. The breakfast room manages to be cheerful and elegant at the same time, its two large windows flooding it with light. Breakfast itself is continental – including cereals, fruit and yoghurt – all very fresh and of high quality. The spotless bedrooms are of modest size, but not cramped. Some have little terraces looking over the internal courtyard. Bathrooms are modern, functional, immaculate and graced with good towels.