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Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
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The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a covered cross-shaped passage, that connects Piazza della Scala and Piazza Duomo.
It is also called "salotto di Milano" (Milan's living room), because in the Galleria there are numerous prestigious stores beyond famous cafes and restaurants, and, together with Via Montenapoleone and Via della Spiga, is one of the centers of luxury shopping in Milan.
But the Galleria is also an historical and artistic monument: built between 1864 and 1878, it was planned by the architect Giuseppe Mengoni, that devised a long gallery, with in the middle a large octagonal "room": the street is covered over by an arching glass and cast iron roof. The two main entrances were constituted by two large triumphal arches.
In 1943 it was damaged by the bombings, but it has been restored and today it appears to us like a huge covered but luminous avenue, that leads to the octagon, where the tourists go in order to complete a good-luck ritual: to rotate on the genitals of the bull, represented in the mosaic within the coat of arms of the city of Turin on the pavement.
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