Porti Fortuna

After my date at the groomers, we did walk inside Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Named after the first king of the Kingdom of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, the Galleria is one of the world’s oldest shopping malls!  

On the ground of the central octagonal of the mall are four mosaics portraying the coat of arms of the three capitals of the Kingdom. Strangely on one of them – the Turin Coat of Arms, there’s a hole on the depicted balls of the bull!  I looked at it and wondered what happened.

Then Mummy went and put her right heel in it and started to turn on herself three times. As she was holding onto me, I was walking around the coat of arms three times – much to the amusement of onlookers.  Later Mummy told me that it is believed that by doing so, it will bring good luck.

Well I sure hope it does because the poor bull – his balls have been completely eroded!

May’s comment:  The Galleria was designed and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877 – and houses some of the top Italian fashion brands. But today we weren’t shopping. We were looking for a bit of luck.