Antica Farmacia Camaldoli

High in the Tuscan mountains, among the fir forests of the Casentino, monks have been making creams, perfumes and plant waters for nearly a thousand years. This is the Antica Farmacia dei Monaci Camaldolesi, the pharmacy of the Camaldoli monastery.

It all began in 1048, with a small hospital where the monks cared for people from the nearby villages, using the plants they knew how to work. The pharmacy burned down, was rebuilt, was closed by the Italian state in 1866, and opened again. It is still there. You step in through an inlaid wooden door, the original shelves reach up to the ceiling, and the laboratory still holds its stills and apothecary mortars.

The Camaldolese monks still make everything on site, by hand, following the old Benedictine rule Ora et labora, "pray and work". They start from the herbal recipes handed down at the monastery. Their products keep something of the place they come from: the quiet of the cloister, the plants of the forest, and the time it takes to do things well.

We offer their perfumes, oils, floral waters, face and body care, and even their toothpaste. A little of Camaldoli for your bathroom.