The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the major landmarks here in the city of Milan. It opened in 1877 and it is considered to be one of inspirations of the modern shopping mall. One look at the shopping arcade and one would immediately see that this is just not some shopping arcade. The glass roof which covers the two intersecting arcades immediately draws your eyes to the ceiling. At the very center is the glass dome is the largest that I have seen so far. I’m pretty sure there would be larger ones but this one was built more than a hundred years ago.

Thousands of people streams through the shopping arcade to get a look at this very impressive shopping arcade. It was December when I visited and I think there would have been more shoppers than normal. It was hard to take photos without getting in someone else’s way. I didn’t even get to have a look at any of the shops here in the arcade, since I was so busy trying to take my photos just so I can leave. You might also notice that the arcade doesn’t have any doors, so this isn’t air conditioned or anything like modern shopping malls. So if you want to visit in the winter, you will need to be bundled up anyway. The arcade is populated by high end shops which I have no hope of shopping in anyway, so I took my photos and head back out.

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