Officina di Santa Maria Novella x The Mediterranean Lifestyle

OFFICINA PROFUMO-FARMACEUTICA DI SANTA MARIA NOVELLA
The first stage of existence of the “Officina” can be traced back to the 1221 when the Domenican friars, arriving in Florence, built their monastery just outside the city gate. Shortly afterwards they began to study and experiment the properties of officinal herbs grown in their gardens next to the monastery. The preparations obtained in this way ( medicaments, balms and ointments) were at first intended for the monastery’s small infirmary, used to keep the friars and other members of the community in good health. In 1612 the monk Fra Angiolo Marchissi opened the pharmacy to the public, earning in this way, from the Grand Duke of Tuscany who had taken note of “such apothecary talent” the right for the dispensary to bear the honorable title o “His Royal Highness’s firm”. So the Domenicans officially started their commercial activity selling their curative and ephemeral products directly. Thus the Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella (Perfume and Pharmaceutical Oficine of Holy Mary Novella) was born with an emblematic name that gave precedence to perfume or the ephemeral rather than the curative aspect of more spiritual inspiration, the medicinal or pharmaceutical. In any case this seemed to have been the shrewd move, if it is true that the first “testimonial” of the Dominican brand was Caterina de’ Medici, the Florentine noblewoman who was crowned Queen of France for whom the friars created the essence that was known as Acqua della Regina - Water of the Queen, today named Water of Santa Maria Novella.
Read the full article in The Mediterranean Lifestyle Online Magazine Issue 3:
www.themediterraneanlifestyle.co/magazine-3
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