t Via della Scala, no. 16, can be found the famous "Farmacia di Santa Maria Novella" (the name that has always been given to it by the Florentines).
The pharmacy dates back to the seventeenth-century and is still open to the public in its original form.
When the Domenicans arrived in Florence around 1220, they established themselves in a small church called Santa Maria tra le Vigne. Their charitable work of assisting the ill was combined with the preparation of herbal medicines, which the brothers carried out in their laboratory.
After several centuries of work, the brothers handed over the running of their pharmacy to a lay person, and in 1612 the famous apothecary Angelo Marchisi obtained for the pharmacy the title of "Fonderia di Sua Altezza Reale" from Grand Duke Ferdinando II.
When the convents were abolished during the Napoleonic era, the pharmacy was acquired by Tommaso Valori, who generously handed it back to the brothers later. They maintained the business till 1871, when Augusto Stefani bought both the premises and the business.
When you go into the shop nowadays, you are immediately overwhelmed by the aroma of the officinal preparations, and the sight of this monumental environment, once the chapels and apothecary's shop of the brothers, is truly entrancing. Besides being able to buy excellent body care products, you can also admire the perfectly-preserved ancient manuscripts and instruments of the brothers.