Glass Ceiling. Milan, Italy. May 2015.
Named after Italy's first king, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II connects two of Milan's most famous landmarks, Teatro Alla Scala and The Duomo. Construction was completed in 1877 and it is officially the world's oldest shopping mall. The cast iron and glass ceiling roof was one of the first of it's kind (along with a few others like Galerie du Roi (Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert) in Brussels and Galleria Umberto I in Naples), however the dimensions of this ceiling and arcade were much larger than any of the predecessors. The galleria was an international effort in terms of design and construction, especially when it came to the gleaming roof—the ironwork was produced and installed by the French craftsman Henry Joret and the glass plates were also manufactured in France. In a strange and tragic twist, the architect behind the galleria, Giuseppe Mengoni, passed away the day before the galleria was to be inaugurated after falling from the roof while inspecting the final decorative details.
Mengoni's vision stands as one of the busiest and most photographed places in Milan. It is a beautiful landmark and during the World's Fair in 2015, the U.S. Pavilion in partnership with the James Beard Foundation created a fine dining restaurant from this space on the top floor of the arcade and this is where I captured this shot.