MILAN — Prada is making a statement in Milan’s shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Comprising eight floors of retail, hospitality and art, Prada Galleria connects two sides of the central octagon in the landmark 19th-century location with a new subterranean passage. It will be unveiled to the public on Sept. 23.

Construction of the Galleria began in 1865 and, located within a four-story double arcade a few steps away from the Duomo cathedral, it is a reminder of the brand’s legacy as it is the site of the original 1913 Fratelli Prada boutique.

“When I started considering how to approach the Galleria project, the site where Prada was founded in 1913 and our story from then until now, I thought about the different exchanges that have shaped our work over the years — trying to make this complexity more visible and intelligible,” said Miuccia Prada. “Art, architecture, film, culture and sports are not separate fields that Prada gradually accumulated, but rather part of an ongoing dialogue with the world around us, driven by a desire to understand it better.”

Pointing to continuous exploration, the designer said that “it is through this connection with other disciplines that Prada has evolved: the architects, artists and filmmakers we have collaborated with have always been creative partners, people with whom we share and develop ideas. Prada would not be the same without these exchanges. It is the sum of different perspectives, rather than any one of them alone, that defines who we are.”

Indeed, her son Lorenzo Bertelli, head of corporate social responsibility at Prada Group, said that “one of the most complex challenges of this project was finding the right balance between heritage and a continuous drive towards the future.”

The goal, he said, is to avoid for Prada Galleria “to be perceived simply as an operation looking to the past: for a brand to be truly alive, it must continue to have a deep understanding of contemporary society, to experiment and innovate. A brand’s history and heritage can provide valuable tools to engage with the present and create a meaningful dialogue with it, rather than becoming an exercise in celebration for its own sake. I believe this is one of the most important challenges for every brand: to strike a positive balance between its heritage and a forward-looking perspective.”

Prada’s women’s store was renewed through an expansion of the below-ground level that nearly doubles its display space, allowing it to extend its travel area, and home and beauty offerings, amid historic murals and archival objects.

Across from this store, the men’s unit, which first opened in July 2013, is now connected through an underground tunnel, known as the “Secret Passage,” and it presents an exhibition of lesser-known episodes from Prada’s history.

Above pastry shop and restaurant Marchesi 1824, Pradasphere unfolds across the piano nobile as the first permanent exhibition dedicated to Prada, from its founding in 1913 to the present day. Marchesi, which the group acquired in 2014, opened in the Galleria in September 2016, its third location in Milan, followed in December that year by Osservatorio Fondazione Prada dedicated to contemporary photography and visual art.

Able to be viewed after registering, Pradasphere follows earlier traveling iterations, staged in 2014 in London and Hong Kong, and in 2023 in Shanghai.

In the Appartamento, German photographic artist Andreas Gursky has curated an exhibition of his works. The invitation-only venue, pairing contemporary art and antique Italian furniture, is used for private dinners and special occasions.

On the second floor, the Studio offers a series of intimate, salon-style rooms designed for highly personalized shopping by appointment, with a central hall for private events.

Prada is not new to introducing innovative store concepts, starting with merging retail with architecture, art and culture in the first Epicenter introduced in New York in 2001 on Broadway, designed by Rem Koolhaas and his architecture studio OMA. One of the most distinctive architectural features of that store is its unobstructed 60-meter north wall, extending the full length of a city block.

This was followed by Prada Epicenters in Los Angeles and Tokyo, designed by Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren and Herzog & de Meuron, respectively.

For example, in Shanghai MiShang Prada Rong Zhai opened at the end of March last year, in a collaboration with director Wong Kar Wai and comprising the first Prada stand-alone fine dining space in Asia; The Pastry Shop inspired by Prada’s first store in the Galleria; The Caffé; The Study; The Lounge; The Dining Room, and The Terrace, a modern reimagining of Arcadia Hall — Shanghai’s first open-air lounge that welcomed women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Furnished with 1930s Italian bamboo tables and chairs, it blends Chinese-inspired design with historical cross-leg seating, traditionally associated with women. The current executive chef is Riccardo La Perna.

Prada in 2017 restored the Rong Zhai 1918 historic mansion in Shanghai as a cultural hub for the brand in China.

A Prada Caffè opened in December 2024 at the then-new ION Orchard boutique in Singapore.