The 19th C. Pharmacy

Through a small door, the visitor moves on to an authentic XIX century pharmacy. The walls are covered on the three sides with the typical pinewood shelves where the medicaments then in use are displayed.
The medicines are stored in authentic pharmacy containers, each one with its original explanatory label: glass bottles and vases, ceramic ‘albarelli’, pewter tankards, wooden boxes. The various products are arranged by type of container and period of production.
A very useful centre bench was the chemist’s worktop also used as writing or reading desk.
Above, on the wall, an embalmed crocodile and a turtle’s carapace witness the presence, albeit marginal, of medicaments of animal origin.
The chemist’s scales were used to weigh preparations and drugs sold to patients over the counter.

Two sentences on the walls summarise the aim and philosophy of this museum. They invite us to reflect on the future of man and the need to research botany for the purposes of medicine. Medicinal herbs are a force of nature created for all living beings, and, in consequence, Homo sapiens can, if he wishes, find all the remedies for his ills in nature.

Gallery