THE SHOP WITH EVERYTHING

This shop is called "Lavalampa," but I've not seen any of those in there. I have seen just about everything else. I avoid going near this shop, never mind into it. Once inside to buy, say, a straw wastepaper basket, the eye darts about at the masses of stuff. I always emerge with at least six things I didn't know I needed until I saw them there.

I see that even the chic woman passing at a clip cannot resist a glance into the window.

This morning, unfortunately, I did a shot of the pottery window. I have a great weakness for bowls, also for jugs, make of it what you will but I've got more of each than most people have teeth and no space left for a thimble, never mind a bowl. But, there it was, a bowl I had to have. It is never wise putting off buying things in Italy because they won't be there the next time. While waiting for it to be wrapped up I saw before me a graduated stack of frying pans, the top one being one-egg size. Everybody needs one of those. Hanging from the rafters were barn lanterns, the kind we used to have on the farm. Winter is coming, there are power failures. There was a stack of mandolins for slicing veggies and oh! I always wanted one of those. And so it went.

The nice thing about this shop is that it is run by two duffers of the old school and -- at a guess, 70 percent of everything in the shop is made in Italy. Un miracolo!

This is the pottery window and bottom right, almost hidden, is a brown and yellow bowl.
It is beautiful. It cost 8 euros -- $10.00 or £6.65 sterling. Pottery bowl.

Late addition. After thinking about this shop, there is nothing purely decorative in it. Everything is entirely useful from the bottles for oil and wine to the lovely hearth brooms, the buckets and baskets, the walking sticks and rope. Prices are low. It's guilt-free shopping.