Milan - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Milan is the city capital of the Lombardy and the second most populous city in Italy after Rome. Known during Roman times as "Mediolanum" it was the place, where in 313 Constantine I and Licinius met and "signed" the "Edict of Milan", giving Christianity a legal status within the Roman empire.

At the end of the Roman empire Milan was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, looted by the Huns in 452, and taken by the Ostrogoths in 539. Only 30 years later is belonged to the Kingdom of the Lombards, until in 774 Charlemagne defeated the Langobards and added Milan to the Carolingian empire. During Barbarossa´s (Frederik I) "Italian Campaigns" Milan was taken and destroyed to a great extent.

Milan came back and flourished, when in 1386 the construction of the cathedral began. It took centuries to complete. In 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte, about to be crowned King of Italy here, ordered the façade to be finished in 1813.

The "Duomo di Milano" is surrounded by the "Piazza del Duomo". The most prominent building (next to the Duomo) is the "Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II" with its triumphal arch. It is the world´s oldest shopping mall, named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of the Kingdom of Italy, and built by Giuseppe Mengoni 1865 - 1877.

The structure consists of two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an octagonal space, that is topped with a glass dome.