Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
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The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a covered double arcade (two arcades intersecting in an octagon) sited on the northern side of the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, connecting to the Piazza della Scala. Named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of united Italy, it was built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1878.
The street is covered over by an arching glass and steel roof, a popular design for nineteenth-century shopping malls (e.g., the Passazh in St Petersburg, opened in 1848). The Milanese Galleria was larger in scale than its predecessors and was an important step in the evolution of the modern shopping mall. It has inspired the use of the term galleria for many other shopping arcades and malls.
The Galleria connects two of Milan's most famous landmarks: The Duomo and the Teatro Alla Scala.
More than 120 years after its inauguration, the four-story arcade includes elegant shops selling most things from haute couture to books, as well as restaurants, cafes and bars. Directly connected to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Milan's ultra-luxurious Park Hyatt hotel, offering the city's most luxurious (and most expensive) rooms and facilities.
