Whenever you´re in Florence you don´t want to miss one of the oldest and probably most beautiful pharmacies of the world! La Officina Profumo Farmaceutica Santa Maria Novella – founded shortly after 1221 by Dominican friars who made and sold balms, medications out of medicinal herbs grown in the monastic gardens.
In 1612 the pharmacie was well know even outside of Florence and opened to the public.
The Old Apothecary, now a herbalist’s shop, was used for the sale and display of products between 1612 and 1848, while the historic Sales Room, restructured in 1848, was the place in which the company’s customers were welcomed when the increasing fame of the pharmacy made the provision of a room for entertaining customers a must. (Museums in Florence)
Today they offer a wide range of products from soaps to colognes, medical liqueurs made after the old recipes. Even some fragrance quite similar to the “acqua della regina” once created for the loyal costumer Catherine de’ Medici.
