The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a covered arcade situated on the northern side of the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, connecting to the Piazza della Scala. Named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of united Italy, it was built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1878.

The street is covered over by an arching glass and steel roof, a popular design for the 19th-century shopping malls (e.g., the Passazh in St Petersburg, opened in 1848). The Milanese Galleria has inspired the use of the term galleria for many other shopping arcades and malls.

More than 120 years after its inauguration, the four-story arcade includes elegant shops selling most things from haute couture to books, as well as restaurants, cafes and bars. Directly connected to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Milan's ultra-luxurious Park Hyatt hotel, offering the city's most luxurious (and most expensive) rooms and facilities.

(Source: Wikipedia)