Wandering through the alleys of Rome's historic center - already so rich in palaces, churches and monuments - can turn into a real discovery, especially for those with a discerning eye. Among many businesses and stores of unnecessary trinkets, we take you to unearth special places where time seems to stand still. Workshops where skilled hands and sensitive minds transmit ancient knowledge, inviting the passerby to take an unusual path full of suggestions.
A hat shop with hundreds of wooden forms to create headdresses of the most unique patterns; a barber's shop with early 20th-century furnishings; an ancient and silent bookstore where one rather breathes library air; a luthier surrounded by violins and stringed instruments; a traditional goldsmith's shop; a workshop where dolls are repaired, with baskets filled with ceramic eyes, legs and faces; or another where rush is worked to stuff chairs.
One of the Capital's historic antiquarian bookstores, founded in 1909 and run over time by three generations of booksellers. It is a true collector's paradise in the heart of Rome, behind Piazza Navona, where you can find prints and works of art.
Founded in the 16th century, the Spezieria of Santa Maria della Scala is the oldest pharmacy in Rome and Europe, a little jewel in the Trastevere Rione. Stepping through its entrance, visitors walk into a world of oil mills, mortars and stills, vases, majolica, and ancient tools for weighing medicines.
In the heart of Rome stands the oldest Roman hat workshop, on the crest of the wave since 1936. In this handcrafted hat paradise you will really find one for every taste: berets, 1930s bonnets, lobbies and cloches... The product is entirely handmade and Made in Italy.
Since 1953 on Via Ripetta the Squatriti family has been restoring porcelain dolls, puppets, marionettes but also ceramics such as vases, saucers, and cups. In this historic place, as very few now in the Capital, you will go back in time and learn anew how to value each object.
