Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

When Italy unified in 1861, Milan needed a monument to match the moment. Architect Giuseppe Mengoni designed a soaring glass-vaulted arcade to connect Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala, naming it after Victor Emmanuel II, the newly minted king of a freshly assembled nation. Construction wrapped in 1877, but Mengoni never saw the inauguration. He fell from the roof during final inspections and died the day before the opening ceremony. Today, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is nicknamed il salotto di Milano: Milan’s drawing room. Four stories of iron lacework, mosaic floors depicting the coats of arms of Italian cities, and a central octagon where visitors spin three times on the bull’s testicles for good luck. Prada, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton occupy the arches now. But it’s still a public living room where Milanese stop for espresso under the oldest shopping mall roof in Italy.