Time travel: visiting Florence’s oldest pharmacy

Its story begins after the arrival of the Dominican monks in Florence in 1221.They settled within the city walls to the northwest in Santa Maria delle Vigne (in Florence's countryside).

In the mid-fourteenth century, it was rebuilt and named Santa Maria Novella. The monks cultivated medicinal plants inside the cloister, using them to prepare ointments, balms and infusions to treat sick friars. Their extensively stocked infirmary was located between the garden and the chapel. 
Their medicines became increasingly popular throughout all of Italy, and in 1600 they decided to open a shop inside the cloister.