Sermoneta - Piazza di Spagna

All the staff, including the owner, of Sermoneta speak Japanese.  This, if you are Maltese, is not really useful but it shows you how seriously they take their customer service: if the customers require it, they provide it.

Sermoneta sell some of the most beautiful and exquisite leather gloves available around the world in such a rainbow of colours and designs you will be absolutely spoilt for choice. They come from the unlined at €39 to the fully-lined in cashmere for around €70. They stock gloves which run up to your armpit and tiny ones which are used for driving. They also sell studded ones, those with stitching running through, those with punchholes...you get the idea. They also have a nice selection of cashmere bonnets and scarves at around €70 each.

 

Fratelli Rossetti - Via del Babuino

Designer shops like Fratelli Rossetti's tend to scare people who peer into their windows and walk on, fearing for a credit card meltdown. Do not be put off: shoes the quality of FR last forever. At around €400 for a pair of boots, this is perfect high-end, mid-range superb-quality leather and stitching: the real artigianale.  Men's shoes tend to be a little stuffy but they have all the classics. Women's are investment pieces. In a couple of years Fratelli Rossetti will be resuscitated along the lines of Loewe and then the prices will sky-rocket.

 

Oysho - Galleria Alberto Sordi

This shop is nothing out of the ordinary except for the fact that the products it stocks are absolutely about staying in. They have super soft clothing which is perfect for lazing about, watching TV and then heading straight to bed without having to change. Their underwear is cute, rather than full-on sexy and they stock the kind of bedroom slippers, lined with sheepskin, that help you to justify never getting out of the house. If Betty Boop, Mafalda and erm, cartoon mice, are up your street (or emblazoned on your jumpers) then head to this place.

 

Galleria Alberto Sordi

Rome does tend to be a bit lack when it comes to shopping. There does not seem to be a middle way: it's either the designer shops or the crap H&Ms smelling of pure plastic. Built in 1914 on the old Palazzo Piombino, the Galleria makes everything pretty and decent and, in pure Italian style, more of its ground floor is occupied by cafes than, seemingly, shops.It is great for when it is raining (or simply freezing) outside although you cannot really call it a 'shopping centre'. It is just smart, comfortable and has a very good Feltrinelli bookshop.

 

Cruciani e Bella - Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, 34 - 00186

I may be ever so slightly biased here as Cruciani e Bella is owned by a friend of ours; you'll just have to trust me on it when I say he has a fabulous selection of ties, including those fashioned out of wool (really funky). There is also such a tremendous choice of cufflinks, from the classic to the quirky that even if you are a woman you will want to stock up on double-cuffed shirts simply to have an excuse to wear them. Mine are a pair of Mivvis.  The Writer has Mini Coopers. Danilo (the Cruciani part - I don't know where Bella went to) also stocks a great range of those most difficult to find items in Malta: braces. He does a fabulous tailoring service and once he measures you, you can then order everything via the net. A classic 'large town, small particular shops' outlet, it is also situated in one of Rome's prettiest squares, with its lovely outdoor cafes (heated in winter), Louis Vuitton next door and Car Shoe and Bottega Veneta opposite.

 

Castroni - Via Flaminia

If you are heading for one of those food shops where you can find all manner of delicious things from all over Italy, then this is you number one destination. It feels like a grocer but has all manner of items stocked on its shelves as long as they are food-related: lentils from different regions, soup mixes, a huge range of chocolate, wines and liqueurs, honey, oils and wines.

 

Wolford - various

Wolford is the kind of shop that you find all over European city but which I doubt would ever open in Malta: it sells tights and stockings of superb quality and quite stunning prices: an average €35 per pair. Having said that, apart from the 'super sexy' ones (painted slashes across the legs a la Cheryl Cole anybody? They sold out) they make brilliant staples, such as the 'cotton velvet' type which have all the softness of cotton but the feel of velvet. On, they look like a fine pair of tights instead of making you look like a Tesco-clad schoolgirl. I can never bring myself to buy on of their all-in-one dresses and bodies (retailing at anything up to €200) but who knows, maybe one day I will.

 

Jo Malone - Via del Babuino

You cannot get more British than the great Jo, who opened her first Roman shop in 2010. Stock up on beautiful perfumes (light but always very particular) and scented candles and then, if you are a mother, an aunt or a grandma (or their male counterparts) pop over to Petit Bateau opposite and buy a wonderful piece of clothing for the children.

 

The Trashy Shops leading to the Campo de' Fiori

Over the past years, the tiny shops leading to this wonderful food market have been occupied by the Italian versions of the Vu Cumpra. In Paris, there are also French counterparts selling items of clothing made of exactly the same high tech, seamless kind of fabric, in different styles. For €10 you can grab yourself a woolen dress or a pair of wool leggings. HIgh street style and quality (which sometimes turns out to be surprisingly easy to care for and good quality) without the high street prices.