This manuscript reviews recent results of large scale shell model calculations for N=Z nuclei. The topics discussed include the role of the proton--neutron pairing in determining the binding energies of pf shell nuclei and properties of backbending rotors, as well as the Coulomb energy differences and their relationship with alignment. Proton--neutron correlations are found responsible for the characteristic features of the isotopic shifts in calcium,  i.e., for the parabolic dependence on A and prominent odd--even staggering.

PACS numbers: 21.10.--k, 21.60.Cs, 27.40.+z