A shoe cobbler in Rome!

Many years back, I was walking in Orchard Road, Singapore with Jules where we discovered a closed bag sale. There were loads of beautiful bags there – the classic, the elegant, the modern.

I got my mum a beaded one, something like this except it was in red.

And then I looked around for something that would catch my eye. And at length, across the corner, there it was … it had all the elements that I loved, it was green, it had a cat and a frog, it was unique. But most importantly, it was so adorable.

I held my breath as there was a woman who started to pick it up and examined it for the longest time, and then after an eternity, finally placed it down. I went over, and realised that there was a slight imperfection – a screw from the handles were missing. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to just let this lovely thing go, so I went over to the cashier and pleaded with her, almost hysterically to ask her if there was anything she could do.

Fortunately for me, eventually she came back with a screw she found and I tucked my new purchase under my arms triumphantly. I really did love my cat bag.

</grandfather stories>

In any case, with the years of wear and tear, one of the black fabric attached to the handles broke and I didn’t know where to go to. I really didn’t want to throw my little cat bag away. But I didn’t know of any places to fix it, so it stayed in the cupboard for the longest time.

It was only recently when walking around San Paolo that I found out that there was a cobbler in the area. My goodness, shoe repairing is a dying trade. It was such a rare thing to see, even in Singapore. It was as if I hit the lottery.

So I rushed back home and on the day itself, I brought my beloved cat bag in. They took about two weeks to have it fixed. And then it was as good as new!

I paid 4 euro, which was quite affordable. So much so that Cart’s scrambling to find old shoes that he could have fixed.

So if you’re in Rome and would like to have your favourite shoes and (maybe bags) fixed, you might want to stop by San Paolo. It’s a nice area to explore anyway.

The cobbler is somewhere along Via Corinto, either number 4 or 6. Google maps is a little outdated here, as it shows shops which are not there anymore. Regardless, you could spot it out easily as it’s right next to a vegetable shop.

Do you know of any other cobblers in your area? When was the last time that you went to an old-school cobbler? Do share below 🙂