Milan's drawing room and the lucky bull
Linking Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Scala, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the oldest and most elegant shopping arcades in the world. Designed by the architect Giuseppe Mengoni and built between 1865 and 1877, it celebrated the unification of Italy and is named after its first king. Mengoni died falling from the scaffolding just days before its inauguration.
Its two arms, covered by a vault of glass and iron, cross under an octagonal dome 47 metres high, decorated with mosaics representing the continents. The floor is a mosaic of marble with the coats of arms of the cities of the kingdom: Milan, Rome, Florence and Turin. On that of Turin, a bull, tradition says that spinning around on your heel on its private parts brings good luck, so much so that the mosaic has to be repaired periodically. The Galleria, called "il salotto di Milano", Milan's drawing room, houses luxury boutiques, historic cafés such as Camparino and Biffi, and restaurants.
Tip: the Highline Galleria lets you walk on the rooftops of the arcade; have an aperitivo at the Camparino, the bar where the Campari aperitif was born.
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