First tourist route
Florence Botanical Garden
Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
Visiting time: about 4 hours

Our first visit starts with a pleasant walk in the Florence Botanical Garden, the third oldest in Italy: it was established in 1545 by the Grand-duke Cosimo de' Medici who, two years before, had founded the Botanical Gardens in Pisa the first "official" example of a University Botanical Garden.

A corner in the Orto Botanico (Botanical Orchard) in Florence

The Florence Botanical Garden, called "Garden of the Simples" because it was created as a garden of medicinal plants, was designed by Niccol called "Il Tribolo" who in the same period had already brought to light other plans of private parks like that of the one for the Medici Villa di Castello.

In the 1700's the collection became rich with numerous plants, not only medicinal, and in 1783 its inner structure was simplified and rationed to make room for the cultivation of agrarian and fruit trees, while the cultivation of medicinal plants and species of scientific interest continued.

In the Garden we will visit the complex of the great greenhouses, constructed at the end of the XIX century: it is comprised of the "warm greenhouses" and the "cold greenhouses". The warm greenhouses host tropical plants, various alimentary plants and numerous medicinal plants of exotic origin while in the cold greenhouses there are collections of citruses, whose historical nucleus date back to the Lorena's, carnivorous plants, palms and succulent plants.

The Garden also holds six little greenhouses of recent construction. Currently the Botanical Garden holds various collections of high value, both historical and scientific collections of great value. In more recent times the collection was increased with collections coming from the South America, South-Africa and Australia.

Outside, we can admire a vast collection of officinal plants, recently organized in systematic order, an environmental reconstruction of an Italian historical garden, a didactic flower-bed of alimentary plants with the "wild" species and, at last, the great "historical" trees.

In the second visit we will stop at Officinal-Profumo-Farmaceutica of Santa Maria Novella, at number 16 in Via della Scala, one of the world's oldest pharmacies: created around 1221 thanks to the Dominican friars, it was officially founded in 1612 due to the Grand-duke of Tuscany, thus taking the name Fonderia di Sua Altezza Reale (Officinal of His Royal Highness).

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In its rooms, as in a jewel casket, the Officinal holds frescoes, furnishings and ancient implements of the pharmacist's trade, along with its products, a vast range of preparations that have made history.

A particular of the group of frescoes by Mariotto di Nardo with the touching scene of the Deposition

A wall in the antique Sacristy frescoed by Mariotto di Nardo around 1385 with the story of the life of Jesus

The boasts essences, as well as the famous and much requested perfumes that are still prepared to a large extent following the ancient formulas like, for example, the Caterina de' Medici's Eau de Cologne, or the highly perfumed 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.

A glimpse of the Museum of the Officina	Copy of a long stemmed thermometer with branched feet from the Academy of Cimento (Santa Maria Novella)
Some mortars and pestles (Santa Maria Novella)	Some examples of majolicas "alla foglia blu" (blue leafed) (Santa Maria Novella)
Two "utelli" ampullas decorated "alla porcella" and cartouches belonging to the cenobites: S(ant)a M(ari)a N(ovell)a	A page with illustrations of the plan of the Herbario di Castore Durante (Santa Maria Novella)
1600's Pharmaceutical Herbarium of Dominique Chabrey (Santa Maria Novella)	A page from an antique manuscript with remedies for tooth-aches (Santa Maria Novella)

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 honor of the Medici family, and the Elisir di Edimburgo, an excellent bitter.

Products, created from the formulas of the Friar chemist, for sale in the Officina. Among these one can choose from Rose Elixir, a liquor with a delicate taste, L'acqua (water) of Melissa, calming to the nervous system.

A painting from the early 1900's representing a spice chemist and two men interested in medicinal the products and cosmetics of the Officina.

Not to be forgotten 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.

Thus the Officinal's past and present activities are integrated, finding its natural complement in cultural activities, following the oldest tradition of pharmacies, which began in 1990 and which spans various fields: concerts and art exhibitions, conferences and book presentations.

A corner of the antique Sacristy with a showcase containing books on herbals, aroma therapy and history and techniques of perfumes.

Stained glass window bearing the coat of arms of the Officina of Santa Maria Novella