ABSTRACT
Piazza del Duomo remains a perennially unsatisfactory square for many architects and urban designers and thus is constantly redesigned, with each new proposal suggesting an ultimate resolution (“La plaza interminabile” 1984: 14). The piazza that we see today is the result of several nineteenth and twentieth century attempts to regularize the parvis to match the imposing cathedral. The initial intention was to surround the piazza with uniform façades. This plan included the design of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, by Guiseppe Mengoni, that would connect the Piazza del Duomo with the Piazza della Scala to the north. The entry to the Galleria is a monumental triumphal arch set within the massive four-story façade with ground level arcades. The Galleria and its connection to the north are important as the Galleria is a public street that is, in a way, an inverted duomo. It is a duomo of commerce. Its cruciform plan, glass ceiling and subdued façades act as a counterpoint to the white cathedral set in an open piazza. On the piazza’s south and rarely photographed side are two buildings known as the Arengario built in 1939. These fascist buildings attempt to match, yet abstract, the northern arcades.
