Farmacia SS. Annunziata

Via dei Servi, 80/R - 50122 Firenze - Florence   see map - Contact
In 1561, the speziale Domenico di Vincenzo of Domenico Brunetti was the first manager of which there is news of the SS Pharmacy. Annunziata. The Pharmacy SS. Since then, Annunziata has always had, in addition to the normal prestige of every spice shop of the time, a particular tradition in the formulation of galenics and products for hygiene and skin aesthetics. From the ancient processes, made by hand with spatulas and pestles, has passed and particularly qualified preparations, made with modern and safe machinery, careful quality controls, in-depth study of the formulas based on traditional and new raw materials in constant change.

Farmacia SS. Annunziata History

The Pharmacy SS. Annunziata is located in Florence in Via dei Servi at n. 30 black and 80 red, in a palace of 1400. At the height of the first floor of the façade, there is a sculpture in serene stone depicting an eagle grabbing a tied bale. The history of this emblem dates back to 1200. Between the twelfth and thirteenth century began the establishment of the Arts of Florence or corporations of the arts and crafts.

These were lay associations born for the defense and the pursuit of common goals that brought together the members of the same professional category or those who practiced the same profession.

To these corporations should be given much of the credit for the extraordinary economic development that allowed Florence to become one of the richest and most powerful cities of the Middle Ages in Europe. Seven guilds were formed that took the name of Major Arts and another 14 named Minor Arts. The members of the former were able to manage and administer large economic interests and managed to create commercial and financial relationships in many parts of the world.

The Minor Arts were corporations of a purely artisan character, whose activities were practiced practically only at the local level and their involvement in the political life of the city was generally more limited than that of the Major Arts. One of the richest and most powerful Arti Maggiori was the Arte dei Mercatanti or of Calimala, which had its shops in Via Calimala, in the center of Florence. Their greatest activity was the processing of raw cloth coming mainly from France and from England, cloth which, after having been finely treated in shaving, topping and coloring, was exported to all countries.

The Arte dei Mercatanti was represented by a coat of arms depicting a golden eagle in a red field grabbing a white knotted swirl. This emblem is found in the building where the SS Pharmacy is located. Annunziata: on the large blade hoisted in the stairwell and on the facade of the building. 1298 is the year in which the city started urbanization. In this period a rectilinear street was built up to the open space in front of the new church annexed to the convent of the SS. Annunziata, today's Via dei Servi. In 1419, with the Brunelleschi project, the construction of the loggia of the Innocenti Hospital was started and in 1421 the paving of Via dei Servi was realized.

Between 1471 and 1482 it was designed by an anonymous connoisseur of Florentine things, a plan that clearly shows, between the Annunziata and the Duomo, two-storey serial buildings, which could represent the houses of Via dei Servi, once turrets, where the fabrics were worked. These drawers were bequeathed for 2/3 to the Arte della Lana and for the remaining 1/3 to the Arte dei Mercatanti.

These Arts, after demolishing them, built respectively 9 and 4 buildings, as attested by the crests on the facades. The building where the Pharmacy is located today is among those built by the Arte dei Mercatanti of Calimala, as shown in the coat of arms affixed to the façade. The 15th Grand Duchy of 1561 is the first document attesting the existence of the thirteen houses: it is a written land register, in which the names of the owners, the tenants, the existence of mortgages, etc. are duly noted. From a volume of the Decima, entitled "Research of the Shops in Florence in the year 1561", it appears that a workshop for the use of apothecary existed in the second section of Via de 'Servi owned by the Nuns of S. Niccolò and managed by Domenico di Vincenzo Brunetti speziale (ASF, Decima Granducale 3784, cc.110v - 111r.). It is plausible to locate this shop on the site of the current Pharmacy. Looking for more information about Domenico Brunetti, the "Red Book of the Freshmen of Florence" of the Medici and Speziali Art is identified, where it is registered on December 1, 1558. (ASF, Arte dei Medici e Speziali, 12, c. 123V.). It is thus possible to reconstruct his professional history.

After joining the Arte dei Medici and Speziali, he opens a shop for the sale of medicinal herbs and the preparation of medicines, a shop located in the second section of the Via de 'Servi, in correspondence of the current street number 80r, in the building belonging to the Nuns of S. Niccolò. We can therefore identify the speziale Domenico di Vincenzo of Domenico Brunetti as the first manager of which we have news of the current Pharmacy SS. Annunziata, in 1561. The furnishings, still present in the pharmacy, and the affixing on the façade of the "sign" of the SS. Annunziata, that is the ceramic round framed in stone with the scene of the Annunciation. The name of Pharmacy derives from the presence of the tondo "in the name of the SS. Annunziata "(1876). Starting from 1935 it will be called Pharmacy of the SS. Annunziata. Today the complete ownership and management of the same belong to the Azzerlini Family.

The Pharmacy SS. Annunziata has always had since 1561, in addition to the normal prestige of every spice of the time, a particular tradition in the formulation of galenics and products for hygiene and skin aesthetics. From the ancient processes, made by hand with spatulas and pestles, it has moved to particularly qualified preparations, carried out with modern and safe machinery, careful quality controls, in-depth study of the formulas based on traditional and new constantly changing raw materials. The ancient tradition has been maintained and the quality of the products has become even better and safer.

The Pharmacy SS. Annunziata guarantees the use of the best quality of raw materials available on the world market; careful preparation with cutting-edge machinery; the freshness of the finished product, respecting and following the latest technical-legislative rules; the particular attention to the needs of the skin, according to the seasons, the climatic conditions and the psychophysical state of the final client.

Farmacia SS. Annunziata

Time period
  • 1500s
Where
  • Italy, Florence
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Farmacia SS. Annunziata
  Via dei Servi, 80/R - 50122 Firenze
  +39 055 210 738
  www.farmaciassannunziata1561.it

Farmacia SS. Annunziata
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Shop / Historical Product Shop / Historical Product
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