Alzira (CLOSED)

When restorer Mònica Font Chiariello opened her bric-a-brac and vintage furniture shop in 2006, she named it after one of the composer Giuseppe Verdi’s least-known operas: Alzira is a place that’s always worth dropping in on, with a steady stream of unique pieces arriving – it might be a vintage dress, a gymnastic vaulting box converted into a bench or a lamp made from a tree trunk. Pride of place is definitely taken by industrial furniture, followed by period pieces from the 1920s to the 1980s. Font and her business partner restore furniture to revive the original patina, but often preserve dints or paint splashes that show the history and character of the piece. If repainting is necessary, they do it with their own unique mixtures. In the yard where they work, they put the finishing touches to new finds – like a 1940s workbench, a real gem.