Overview
Giuseppe Mengoni designed it as a cross with an octagon at the crossing, under a dome 47 metres high; he fell from the scaffolding days before the opening. The floor mosaics carry the arms of the four cities of the kingdom, and the bull of Turin has a hollow worn in it by generations of people spinning on their heel for luck. The oldest tenants — a bookshop, a bar, a tailor — have been there since it opened.
Highlights
Walk it at night, when the glass is lit and the shops are shut; it is a different building without the crowd. The bull is on the floor of the octagon and the queue for it is short and quick. From the Galleria, the Duomo roof and La Scala are both two minutes away, which makes it the natural centre of a day in Milan.