General Information
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a complex that contains the oldest shopping mall in the world and the Italian city of Milan’s Town House Galleria Hotel. In the early 1860s, a competition was run to design a building for an undeveloped area of the city, it was won by Giuseppe Mengoni who proposed the stunning architecture that is in place now. The proposal was built between the years of 1865 and 1877 and contains two iron and glass vaulted arcades intersecting to an octagon sealed by a glass domed roof. It is a fine use of Neoclassical architecture. The arcades are used to house shops and some of the finest clothing companies have battled to own a shop in the building that's seen as the place to shop in the city.
Getting there
The Galleria is situated close to other sights, such as the Duomo and La Scala. The easiest option to get there is by metro, take the red M1 or yellow M3 metro lines to ‘Duomo’ station. Alternatively, take the tram, the 2, 3, 12, 14, 16, 19, 24 and 27 trams stop at the ‘Duomo’ station which is close by.
Opening Times and Admission
The Galleria’s shops are open normal working hours and range from high to low end. No restrictions exist on entering the Galleria but it can become busy with both shoppers and tourists.
Visited what felt like a landmark of the city, Milan is known for its fashion and this impressive structure is home to all the high end brands and their shops. We had a look around the shops and all of the clothing was out of our price budget but the Galleria itself was impressive; Especially the central dome.