The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II () is Italy's oldest active shopping gallery and a major landmark of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Housed within a four-story double

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

in the centre of town, the ''Galleria'' is named after

Victor Emmanuel II en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas , house = Savoy , father = Charles Albert of Sardinia , mother = Maria Theresa of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , image_size = 252px , succession ...

, the first king of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. It was designed in 1861 and built by architect Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877.

Architecture

The structure consists of two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, w ...

covering the street connecting Piazza del Duomo to

Piazza della Scala Piazza della Scala is a pedestrian central square of Milan, Italy, connected to the main square of Milan, Piazza del Duomo, by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II passage. It is named after the renowned Teatro alla Scala opera house, which occupie ...

. The street is covered by an arching glass and

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...

roof, a popular design for 19th-century arcades, such as the

Burlington Arcade Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in London, England, United Kingdom. It is long, parallel to and east of Bond Street from Piccadilly through to Burlington Gardens. It is one of the precursors of the mid-19th-century European sh ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, which was the prototype for larger glazed

shopping arcade A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

s, beginning with the Saint-Hubert Gallery in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(opened in 1847), the Passazh in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(opened in 1848), the

Galleria Umberto I Galleria Umberto I is a public shopping gallery in Naples, southern Italy. It is located directly across from the San Carlo opera house. It was built between 1887–1890, and was the cornerstone in the decades-long rebuilding of Naples—called t ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

(opened in 1890), and the Budapest Galleria. The central octagonal space is topped with a glass

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

. The Milanese ''Galleria'' was larger in scale than its predecessors and was an important step in the evolution of the modern glazed and enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

, of which it was the direct progenitor. It has inspired the use of the term ''galleria'' for many other shopping arcades and malls. On the ground of the central octagonal, there are four mosaics portraying the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of the three capitals of the

(

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) plus Milan's. Tradition says that if a person spins around three times with a heel on the testicles of the bull from

this will bring good luck. This practice causes damage to the mosaic: a hole developed on the place of the bull's genitals. The Galleria connects two of Milan's most famous landmarks: The Duomo and the

Teatro Alla Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

, but the Galleria is a landmark in its own right.

The iron-and-glass roof

The Milan gallery and its roof have been acknowledged as an important reference on 19th-century iron-and-glass architecture by Pevsner and Hitchcock. As one can still observe today, the roof consists of four barrel vaults (approximately 14.5 m in width and 8.5 m in height) that are crowned with a huge dome (around 37.5 m as internal diameter and 17.10 m in height). Jorini pointed out the accomplishments of this dome with special regard to the large dimensions. Each of the roof parts is topped with a lantern. Cupula Galleria Milano (179533673)

According to Geist, the Milan gallery and the roof were unprecedented in dimensions by previously built shopping arcades. Another difference with already existing passages, was the monumental character of the roof at Milan. Jodice, for example, appreciated the monumental spatial effect of the dome. In comparison to earlier emblematic arcades, such as Galerie d'Orléans (1828-1829) and

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert The Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries (french: Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, nl, Koninklijke Sint-Hubertusgalerijen) is an ensemble of three glazed shopping arcades in central Brussels, Belgium. It consists of the or ("King's Gallery"), the or ...

(1845-1847), the Milan arcade was also special because of the large spans of the vaults and the ethereal effect of the entire glass canopy. The construction of the whole Gallery was the result of international collaboration. This especially concerned the roof: the ironwork was produced, transported and installed by the French Atelier Henry Joret. The glass plates were made of flat ribbed glass by

Saint-Gobain Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it now also produces a variety of ...

. The construction technology of the roof employs primary wrought-iron arches in order to support the glazing. By contrast, arcades that were built earlier were smaller and had simpler roofs: the same components were used for both load bearing and glazing purposes. In addition, the roof at Milan was equipped with invisible reinforcements in the supporting walls. This complicated roof is discussed as the unity of four systems that were skillfully combined through characteristic construction details. This construction technology was creative for avoiding visible tie-rods in the spans of the vaults and the dome, for a special effect of the glass plates and for the glazing bars. The historical roof was heavily damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Before that the roof had undergone multiple maintenance interventions. Serious problems in the roof were reported in the 1970s, and some of them were solved in the 1980s. The roof that we see today has gone through different historic modifications and represents complicated conservation issues. In 2015, in preparation for Expo Milano 2015, the facades, statues, and mosaics underwent detailed cleaning and repair, using a giant moving crane scaffolding system.

Shops, restaurants and hotels

The Galleria is often nicknamed ' (Milan's drawing room), due to its numerous shops and importance as a common Milanese meeting and dining place. As of 2013, the arcade principally contains luxury retailers selling

haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

, books and paintings, as well as restaurants,

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-c ...

s, bars, and a hotel, the Town House Galleria. The Galleria is famous for being home to some of the oldest shops and restaurants in Milan, such as Biffi Caffè (founded in 1867 by Paolo Biffi, pastry chef to the monarch), the Savini restaurant,

Borsalino Borsalino is the oldest Italian company specializing in the manufacture of luxury hats. Since 1857, the manufacture has been based in Alessandria, Piedmont. The founder, Giuseppe Borsalino, is remembered for creating a particular model of felt ...

hat-shop (1883) and the Art Nouveau classic Camparino.

Gallery

File:Galleria Vittorio Emanuele ii Xmas (J).jpg, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II at Christmas File:Brogi, Giacomo (1822-1881) - n. 4608 - Milano - Ottagono della Galleria Vittorio Emanuele ca. 1880.jpg, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II from inside the arcade, c. 1880 File:MI - 1865 - Domenico Induno - Posa prima pietra della Galleria di Milano il 7 marzo 1865.jpg, The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II's first stone File:Piazza Duomo3.jpg, The Galleria's triumphal arch entrance File:Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - cupola 01.jpg, The Galleria from inside the arcade File:Galleria di Milano, ingresso da piazza della Scala.jpg, Detail of the exedra at the exit of the gallery on

File:IMG 6939 - Milano - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - Stemma Savoia - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 8-Mar-2007.jpg, Floor mosaic File:Galleria-Vittorio-Emanuele-II Milan.jpg, Vertical photo of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

References

External links

History and Restoration of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galleria Vittorio Emanuele Ii Buildings and structures in Milan Culture in Milan Domes Italianate architecture Pedestrian streets in Italy Shopping arcades in Italy Shopping centres in Italy Shopping malls established in 1877 Tourist attractions in Milan Victor Emmanuel II of Italy 1877 establishments in Italy