Flavio Viola's shop in Monti

There's a charming little shop in Monti that bills itself as an antique shop cum furniture restoration location (Restauro mobili, Antichità), but in reality it's mostly a shop selling a mishmash of antiques, dishes, art work, old publications and more. Once you get chatting with owner Flavio Viola he confirms that this is really what his shop is all about. Flavio is usually sitting right at the desk at the shop entrance and he is ready to greet you with his cordial and gentle manners.It's the kind of shop I love: it's all cluttered and you just know that if you sniff around long enough you'll find something you love.Actually there was no sniffing around involved at all. I'd first spied some hand-painted ceramic cups, plates and tea / coffee pots last week when I was strolling around Monti and after a few visits decided to go ahead and purchase them. The ten cups, plates, pot plus creamer and sugar bowl are an unusual brown-tone hand-painted set from the Gualdo Taldino area of Umbria, from back in the 1930's. A very satisfying purchase that is now both handsomely displayed on the credenza in my tinello and very useful.But that's not all there is in Flavio Viola's shop. There are water and wine glass sets, furniture, paintings, lamps, vases, chairs, candelabras, more hand-painted ceramics, mirrors. It's not easy to make your way around the shop as it's so chock full of goodies, but at the same time everything is very visibly displayed albeit quite precariously stacked. Stop by; it's a fun shop to browse around and like me you just mind find something special worth purchasing. By the way...cash only.Flavio doesn't have a website but he's easy to find when you're next in the Monti area of Rome. Via del Boschetto, 100. Tel. +39 3496622578