It took the Rosso family, the owners of several small, exclusive hotels in Italy, several years to convince Milan’s city government to approve their plans to develop the Town House Galleria. Beyond the usual difficulty in getting past one of Italy’s labyrinthine bureaucracies, the boutique property required special consideration because of its proposed location: inside one of Milan’s most famous landmarks, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a massive, architecturally stunning indoor arcade completed in 1876. Ultimately, the Rosso family and its company, Town House Hotels, succeeded, and the hotel opened its doors in March 2007 to stellar reviews. Appointed with edgy modern art, the Town House Galleria’s 24 suites occupy the arcade’s second and third floors. Each suite offers interior views of the Galleria and its streams of shoppers and tourists, most of whom are unaware that a hotel sits above the original Prada store. Butlers serve each room, stocking the individual wine cellars and arranging anything from a personal guide for viewing Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper to an after-hours shopping trip. . Rates Suites from about $1,600 to $4,100.
