Della Rocca, Via Piave 51-53, Rome, Italy.

This is the kind of place you would call a "gentlemen's outfitters"...
Walking into this shop is rather like walking back in time. Not least because much of the clothing is the kind of classic gent style which probably hasn't changed much in 50 years- tweed jackets, brogues, chords, braces and not a trainer in sight.
I said to the lady who you can see behind the counter above, "What a beautiful shop!"
She said: "We know."
This one has been there, in its same form, since the 1920s. The furnishings are basically still the same, and there is even a fine lift to take customers up to the upper floor.
As seems de rigeur at shops of this vintage, there are large, curved browsing windows as you enter the shop, so you can have a browse, under cover, before entering. Look at the craftsmanship here!
Here's a closer look... nice.
This is the cash desk. Now, that is how they all should be.

A view down to the lower floor from the balcony above.
Suits, kept behind class doors... elegant presentation.

Della Rocca stocks Alfred Sargent English shoes. They seem apt for such a shop.
www.alfred-sargent.co.uk
Old style presentation of woolens...
...and shirts (although most shirt shops do this, but perhaps not quite as beautifully).

A view across the top floor again.

Macelleria "Buccioni", ("Buccioni's Butcher's Shop") Via Girolamo Vitelli 4, Rome, Italy.

This is one of the local butchers in the area of Baldi Degli Ubaldi, just north west of the Vatican City in Rome.
And here is the butcher. I used this butcher's shop a lot since his own sausages are superb and the rest of his meat is excellent too.
He told me that, having retired (I forget from what) he got bored and decided to open this butcher's shop. Good on him. He's obviously a quick learner too- because he has managed to set up a fine butcher's shop in just a few years.
What I like (food aside) about his shop is that eye catching painting hanging behind.
It's a copy of Paolo Ucello's "The Battle of San Romano"*, part of a series of three paintings, and this one hangs in The National Gallery, London. It is one of the most scintillating paintings in the gallery in my opinion, on a huge scale with some stupendously striking colouring and drama going on.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/paolo-uccello-the-battle-of-san-romano

Anyway, for me it really adds to the joy of this particular shop- a touch of individuality and beauty in what can often be rather bland places and a far cry from the dreary supermarket meat counter at least.
Needless to say, for a man with a superb eye for bloody battles, meat... he is also an ex-boxer. Look at him to see why. Good frame, possibly a heavy-weight, I would say, in his day. Career card: 117 fights...

...102 wins. An excellent record and all the more reason to slavishly praise his sausages next time you go in there. (Note the picture second from the top has a Muhammad Ali in the right corner.)
*Ok, so it looks as if the painting's the wrong way round. You tell him, then.

M. Caccetta, "Calzature di lusso" ("Luxury Shoes"), Via Piave 9-21, Rome.

Some modern fittings aside, the interior of this shoe shop is not much changed since the 1940s. The descencents of the current owners founded the store and originally divided it in to two parts- one for adults' shoes and one for children's footwear.
As you can see, the exterior windows have the rather attractive and elegant window design over marble floors with the shoes nicely laid out behind.
This style of window shopping is quite common in Italian stores of a certain era- rather than picking the shoes up from a rack in the store, you spot them in the window, summon the shop assistant, and ask for them to be brought out to try on.

The delightful thing about this shop was a side booth to the left of the entrance. Can you see the faded, brown pictures on the walls above the seating?
Here's a closer look...
Any idea what this is for? Today, alas, nothing, bar space for more shoes. But the shop assistant told me that this was previously the children's shoes area- and they had these pictures added to the walls for the children's delight. That was in the 1940s- and the, albeit rather faded, paper still remains today.
This is a picture of the current owner (in pole-till position!) and his assistant on the day. Notice how the shoes are boxed up on the walls to the right, up to the door. Below is a closer look.
Here is the main piece of the interior, directly in front of the till and front doors. Beautiful.

I have walked passed this shop on many occasions and have never entered once, but it had always appealed before I eventually did so. Although rather faded, I think it is a wonderful shop, and the children's shoe area is a real treat- much so just by still existing.