The first Renaissance refectory in Florence is the one belonging to the Benedictine nuns of Sant'Apollonia, created around 1445 in one of the most florid periods of the convent.

There are no lines at this former convent and no crowds. Few people even know to ring the bell at the nondescript door. What they're missing is an entire wall covered with the vibrant colors of Andrea del Castagno's masterful Last Supper (c. 1450).

The end wall of the refectory (9.75 x 9.10 m) was decorated with frescoes, although these were never discovered due to the nuns strict enclosure. The suppression of the convent in 1860 revealed the existence of only one fresco representing the Last Supper (the upper section had been whitewashed), which was initially attributed to Paolo Uccello and then to the real author Andrea del Castagno (1421-1457), who worked on it after his return from Venice in 1444. Castagno used his paint to create the rich marble panels that checkerboard the trompe-l'oeil walls and broke up the long white tablecloth with the dark figure of Judas the Betrayer, whose face is painted to resemble a satyr, an ancient symbol of evil.

Other three frescoes were discovered above this one, representing respectively the Resurrection, Crucifixion and Entombment of Christ. At the time of the restoration in 1952, the three frescoes were removed to be preserved, thus allowing the recovery of the splendid sinopites.