The Eight-Floor Prada Galleria Brings Together Fashion, Art, History And Hospitality At The House’s Historic Home In Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Prada is expanding its presence in Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II into something considerably larger than a traditional flagship, bringing together retail, hospitality, art, archival history, and private experiences across eight floors at the site where the house began more than a century ago.
Dubbed Prada Galleria, the project encompasses the original home of Fratelli Prada, founded in 1913, and connects Prada’s spaces on opposite sides of the Galleria’s central octagon through a newly constructed subterranean passage. The result is conceived as an immersive expression of the house and the cultural interests that have developed alongside it under the direction of Miuccia Prada.
Rather than treating Prada’s history as a static archive, the project brings past and present into dialogue. Fashion sits alongside art, architecture, cinema, culture, and hospitality, reflecting the multidisciplinary exchanges that have increasingly become part of Prada’s identity.
At street level, the historic Prada Donna boutique has been expanded below ground, nearly doubling its display space. The enlarged store brings together the women’s collections with an extended travel area as well as home and beauty offerings, while retaining historic murals and archival elements.
Across the Galleria, Prada Uomo is now physically connected to the women’s store for the first time by a new underground passage.
Named the Passaggio Segreto, or Secret Passage, the tunnel functions as more than a connection between the two boutiques. Prada has turned the space into an exhibition exploring lesser-known moments from its history, drawing on archival material and early experiments that helped establish the house’s approach to design, observation, and collaboration.
The project then begins to move beyond retail.
Above Prada Uomo sits Marchesi 1824, the historic Milanese pastry shop owned by Prada Group, providing a hospitality component rooted in the traditions of Milanese café culture.
One floor higher, Pradasphere becomes one of the project’s most significant additions. Located on the Galleria’s piano nobile, it is the first permanent exhibition dedicated to Prada and traces the company’s evolution from the founding of Fratelli Prada in 1913 through the present day.
Drawing from the house’s archives, the exhibition brings together objects and material spanning fashion, art, architecture, film, culture, and sport, including pieces being publicly displayed for the first time. The permanent installation follows previous traveling editions of Pradasphere staged in London and Hong Kong in 2014 and Shanghai in 2023.
The upper floors become progressively more private.
The Studio consists of intimate salon-style rooms created for personalized shopping by appointment, centered around a larger hall that can also accommodate private events.
Above it, the Appartamento shifts further into the intersection of art and hospitality. Imagined as an 18th-century apartment, the invitation-only space combines antique Italian furnishings with an exhibition curated by photographic artist Andreas Gursky featuring his own works. Overlooking the Galleria’s monumental architecture and mosaics, the space is intended for private dinners and special occasions.
At the uppermost levels sits Osservatorio Fondazione Prada, extending the cultural programming of Fondazione Prada into the Galleria. Dedicated to visual experimentation and research, Osservatorio explores the intersection of technology, contemporary culture, and artistic expression, with a particular focus on how new technologies and social and political change are reshaping visual languages.
Together, the spaces make Prada Galleria less a single store than a vertical portrait of the house.
Luxury brands have increasingly expanded their flagships to incorporate restaurants, exhibitions, private salons, and cultural programming, but Prada has an unusually deep history with this particular address. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is not simply a prestigious location adopted by the company as it grew; it is where Mario Prada opened Fratelli Prada in 1913.
More than a century later, Prada is using that same location to articulate what the house has become.
The expanded boutiques represent its commercial present, while the Passaggio Segreto and Pradasphere provide a direct connection to its history. Marchesi introduces hospitality; the Studio and Appartamento create increasingly private client experiences; and Osservatorio places contemporary art and experimentation literally at the top of the structure.
In bringing them together, Prada Galleria turns one of the house’s oldest addresses into one of its most comprehensive expressions — a destination designed not simply to sell Prada, but to immerse visitors in the continually evolving world around it.