Visit Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

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The Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella (aka Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy) in Florence, Italy is the oldest pharmacy in the world. The pharmacy was founded in the 13th century by Dominican friars, and is housed in a cloister, next to the famed church—together they are some of the most beautiful buildings in all of Florence. There is a museum, garden and a shop. The store offers gorgeous soaps, perfumes, and creams—with the most beautiful packaging The museum has some of the first stills that were used to distill the Acqua di Rose, which was used as a disinfectant and remedy during the 15th-century plague, and is still being made today. There is also a large collection of beatuful majolica pharmacy jars. In the hills of the Castello district of Florence, opposite the Medici Villa della Petraia at Via della Petraia 38/F, the gates of the new garden of Santa Maria Novella open onto a paradise of 15,000 sqm, proposing an ancient tradition inherited from the Dominican monks: the hortus conclusus, which the friars cultivated around their monastery back in the 13th century.

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