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L'officina Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella

in Firenze            Seven hundred years of art and history

In Florence, a short distance from the famous square by the same name, at number 16 of Via della Scala, stands one of the world’s oldest pharmacies: Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, with its historic, artistic and handicraft legacy, which has thrived for centuries in uninterrupted symbiosis with the city of Florence. In its rooms, as in a jewel casket, the Officina hosts frescoes, furnishings and ancient implements of the pharmacist’s trade, alongside its products: a vast range of preparations to entice even the most demanding customer. Indeed, no one who enters the portal can ever forget the indescribable range of scents that linger in the air: this is the magic of potpourri, a sagacious mixture of flowers and herbs from the hills surrounding Florence. Its unmistakable fragrance is the fruit of lengthy seasoning in old terracotta jars. The origin of the Antica Farmacia goes back to the Dominican friars who in 1221 settled in Florence but it was officially founded in 1612 following a suggestion made by the Granduca di Toscana. The director and creator of the success of the Aromateria and its products was Fra’ Angiolo Marchissi, to whom the Granduca granted the right to use the name of Fonderia di Sua Altezza Reale. During the eighteenth century, thanks also to the ingeniousness of the many formulas created by the chemist-friars, the renown of the Farmacia crossed many borders and exports even reached the Indies and distant China. Since then, the spread of its products has constantly widened and though production is still restricted to the Head Office in Florence, other sales points have been opened in Roma, Milano, Forte dei Marmi, Lucca, Rimini, well as in London and Paris. Many of the Officina’s preparations have made history and have marked an epoch: the essences, as well as the famous and much requested perfumes, are still prepared to a large extent following the formulas studied in 1500 for Caterina de’ Medici. The history of Eau de Cologne is quite special in this regard. Indeed, it seems that this was the essence that Caterina de’ Medici, Queen of France, took with her to Paris, where it acquired the name of Eau de la Reine. Later, the Italian Giovanni Paolo Feminis, who moved to Cologne in 1725 and began to make it there, changed its name to Acqua di Colonia, as a tribute to the city where it was produced. Among the other preparations still produced following the old formulary of the Dominican friars is Aromatic Vinegar or Aceto dei Sette Ladri, very useful in the case of fainting-spells, whose formula dates back to 1600. Acqua Antisterica, today known as Acqua di Santa Maria Novella, in the past boasted a sedative and antispasmodic effect and was created by Fra’ Angiolo Marchissi in 1614. The Acqua di Rose, an excellent refreshing tonic for red eyes, was already available for sale in the second half of the fourteenth century. A very famous liqueur is Alkermes which held the sales record in the nineteenth century; also held in high regard are Elixir di China and Liquore Mediceo which was named in honour of the Medici family and the Elisir di Edimburgo, an excellent bitter. Not to be forgotten are the hair products and a wide range of products for treating the skin, such as Pasta di Mandorle, an excellent hand cream and Polvere Bianchire le Carni, a valid vegetable expedient for thoroughly cleansing the skin as well as milk, creams and oils for the body, bubble-baths and soaps. Soaps, hand-moulded one by one, aged for sixty days in ventilated cabinets and hand-wrapped are still produced with the machinery of the nineteenth century. Lastly, other favourites include the perfumed powders produced from the ground rhizome of the iris, the flower that grows freely on the hills around Florence in such profusion as to be adopted as the lily symbol of the city, still represented in its coat of arms. The Officina di Santa Maria Novella is once again also a herbalist’s shop. When the Dominican friars’ ancient formulas, no longer in use, were catalogued, a period of careful study revealed their up-to-date qualities and, in addition, the possibility to produce them. The Antica Farmacia has therefore enriched its lines with other exclusive products based on medicinal plants and herbs cultivated with natural methods and without the use of pesticides, thus offering customers the best service and a line of products which is all but complete. Thus the Officina’s past and present activities are integrated in a process of continuous osmosis which finds its natural complement, in the oldest tradition of pharmacies, in cultural activities which began in 1990 and which span various fields: from the artistic, with evenings devoted to the theatre, concerts and art exhibitions, to scientific, with conferences and book presentations. These events are held in an impressive room, originally a church abounding in frescoes, which was donated by the Acciaioli family to the friars in 1335 in recognition of their services and then transformed in 1848 into the actual Salesroom in order to meet the increased demands of the company. This and the other museum rooms of the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella can be visited in small groups on appointment.

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