Mandarin Oriental, Barcelon

Shortly upon proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1865, King Vittorio Emanuele II laid the keystone of the Milano’s monumental Galleria, named after him. Designed by the architect Giuseppe Mengoni, the Galleria connects Milan’s two signature architectural features: the Duomo and the Teatro alla Scala, as a symbolic junction of the sacred and the profane. The Galleria, resplendently illuminated by the central great dome, soon became the Milanese meeting point and it’s still nicknamed “Salotto di Milano”, the Milano’s Drawing Room

King Vittorio Emanuele II intended the Galleria’s Ballrooms to accommodate prestigious gatherings, public and private; glamorous balls and ostentatious extravaganzas. The Ballrooms were the quintessential event ambient during the early history of the new Italian kingdom, hosting nobility and leading burghers, heads of state and renown artists, princesses and famous courtesans. In the twentieth century the Ballrooms, with their splendid acoustics and their strategic location, were employed for rehearsal by the famous opera
company of the “Teatro alla Scala”