Corie and I had never so eagerly entered a shopping gallery in our lives. But the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II isn’t just any shopping gallery. It’s Italy’s oldest and one of Milan’s major landmarks, located on the same square as the city's Duomo Cathedral.
Corie and I had different motives for going to the gallery, and shopping wasn’t either of ours. Corie was eager to explore the artwork in the gallery’s architecture, and I knew it would be one of the best places in the city for people watching.
Since its completion in the late 1800s, the galleria has been an elegant monument to commerce, and today it houses some of the top high-end brand names: Gucci, Louis, Vuitton, Prada, Borsalino, and McDonalds.
I am, of course, kidding about McDonalds. The fast-food burger chain hasn’t been inside the galleria since 2012 after the city of Milan refused to extend the restaurant’s lease because locals complained about such a pedestrian eatery in the epicenter of Milan’s fashion world.
Today, a second Prada store, across from the first Prada store, inhabits what was once the best place in the galleria for a Big Mac. But Fillet O' Fish fans needn’t worry; there is now a McDonalds just outside the galleria and, if one is in the mood for a walk, a second McDonalds is not too far away on the Duomo square.
But Corie and I weren’t in the neighborhood for a Happy Meal.
Corie took in the mosaics decorating the galleria’s two four-story, glass-vaulted arcades and center glass dome, measuring 123 feet in diameter.
Four mosaics depicting Asia, Africa, Europe and America boast about the trade that has taken place under the galleria’s ceiling, while four mosaics on the floor with the coats of arms from Milan, Rome, Turin and Florence, make a powerful statement of Italy’s unification.
Many visitors seek out Turin’s mosaic for a very strange reason. It’s coat of arms features a bull whose, let’s just say Rocky Mountain oysters, are badly damaged from tourists spinning three times on them on their heel. The custom started off as more of a fertility rite, women hoping to become pregnant. Of course, men couldn’t let women have all the fun spinning around on tiled bull parts, so today everyone can take three heel rotations for good luck.
As Corie admired the mosaics, I wandered through the crowd of families, influencers, and tourists to take photos. Under the dome, people wearing T-shirts announcing their fashion teams of choice, circle in an ever-changing flow of humanity trying to get the perfect selfie.
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