Inside Prada Galleria, the Underground Passage Between Prada’s Milan Boutiques

Prada Donna occupies the site where Fratelli Prada opened in 1913. A basement extension nearly doubled its display space. The travel department exhibits archival trunks from Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and Baz Luhrmann’s Australia.

Above Prada Uomo, visitors can explore the house archives at Pradasphere, visit the Marchesi 1824 café and see exhibitions at Osservatorio Fondazione Prada. The two entrances face the central octagon of the nineteenth-century shopping arcade from diagonally opposite sides.

Visitors who take the passage can cross from one shop to the other below street level. Back in the women’s boutique, the space gained below ground also accommodates home and beauty collections. Historic murals remain part of the setting for the merchandise. Two exhibitions along the route tell different parts of the story.

The cases in the passage concentrate on early experiments by Prada. Upstairs, the permanent Pradasphere exhibition follows the house from its founding through its work in film, architecture, art and sport. Some objects from the archive went on public display for the first time in Milan…