First morning in Milan. My internal clock is not synchronized with central European time yet so I was up and about very early this morning. As the sky began to brighten about 6 a.m., I took a walk. I strolled through the neoclassical Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II completed in 1877. It has a spectacular soaring glass and steel cover over the central promenade. The structure was designed by Giuseppe Mengoni, who tragically fell from a scaffolding and died just months before the 14-year long construction was completed. The galleria now houses shops such as Gucci, Gorgio Armani, the original Prada store, Rizzoli books, restaurants, etc. It links the Piazza di Duomo to La Scala opera house.

above: The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Duomo is Milan's cathedral begun by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1387. Its design was originally thought to be unfeasible. Canals had to be dug to transport marble to the site. New technologies had to be invented to construct a building of this never before attempted scale. As the building was being constructed, the Gothic style was going out of fashion and the cathedral took on several styles over the decades of construction. There are 135 spires and 3200 statues on and in the cathedral.

Early morning view of Duomo