January 30, 2026
Scaffold Spectacle incoming
Long-hidden Leonardo mural opens to the public ahead of 2026 Milan Olympics
Five-week peek at Da Vinci’s secret room sparks hype, side-eye, and scaffold selfie debates
TLDR: Milan will briefly let people climb scaffolding to view a newly recognized Leonardo mural mid-restoration, then close it for 18 months. Online reactions split between awe at the rare access and snark over “Olympic hype,” plus worries about scaffold selfies and crowd chaos.
Milan is cracking open a long-hidden Leonardo da Vinci mural for just five weeks, and the internet has feelings. The city will let visitors climb a 20-foot scaffold inside the Sforza Castle’s Sala delle Asse to watch restorers clean the fragile tempera painting with Japanese rice paper and demineralized water—cue instantly viral jokes about “sushi for walls.” After March 14, the room gets sealed off for another 18 months, and that scarcity is fueling a classic FOMO vs. why-bother brawl.
On one side: art nerds calling this a once-in-a-lifetime peek at Leonardo’s leafy ceiling pergola, a rare chance to stand inches from history while Milan-Cortina 2026 hype builds. On the other: skeptics grumbling that five weeks sounds like an Olympic publicity stunt, plus “scaffold selfie” fears about crowds jostling near a 15th-century wall. Locals are torn—some thrilled the city is finally flexing its Renaissance roots; others dread tourist chaos and price surges. Meanwhile, the new exhibit on Leonardo’s students (the “Leonardeschi”) in the castle’s revamped rooms has fans cheering for deeper context, while hot-takers argue the real star is the mid-restoration drama. If you miss it, there’s always the multimedia show in the Panoramic Rooms and the classic Sforza Castle tour—but the internet has already crowned this the Scaffold Spectacle of the season.
Key Points
- •Public access to Leonardo’s Sala delle Asse mural runs from February 7 to March 14 via a 20-foot scaffold, then the room closes for 18 more months.
- •The mural, begun around 1498 by Leonardo and his workshop, features vine pergolas formed by 16 trees and monochrome roots and rocks, and was recently re-evaluated as authentic.
- •French seizure of Milan in 1499 forced Ludovico Sforza and Leonardo to flee, after which the room was overpainted and largely forgotten until traces were found in the late 19th century.
- •Restorers are using Japanese rice paper with demineralized water to remove salts and clean the fragile tempera painting’s surface.
- •Sforza Castle will offer guided tours, a new multimedia installation on the Sala delle Asse, and a redesigned Pinacoteca Room XXI dedicated to the Leonardeschi from January 21.