Day 21 - The Duomo, Leather and Perfume
Duomo Museum, Oldest Pharmacy in the world, Florence School of Leather
July 12, 2023: Today Jimm did the Duomo climb. The only way to see the inside of the dome up close and enjoy the extraordinary view of Florence it offers is to climb its 463 steps (there is no elevator): the route took him by the interior of the dome where you can admire Giorgio Vasari's frescoes of the Last Judgment (created between 1572-1579) up close. He did a video of his climb that you can see on Facebook. I will also be uploading it to our Photos and Video page under Italy 2023 as soon as I can. After his climb, we met at the Opera del Duomo Museum. Like the other museums we have visited, the museum contains many of the original works of art created for Florence Cathedral, including the adjacent Florence Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. Most of the exterior sculptures have been removed from these cathedral buildings, usually replaced by replica pieces, with the museum conserving the originals.
Among the museum's holdings are Lorenzo Ghiberti's doors for the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral called the Gates of Paradise, the two singing-galleries designed for the cathedral, one each by Luca della Robbia and Donatello. All these have been replaced by replicas at the cathedral.
The collection also includes The Deposition, sculpted by Michelangelo which he intended for his own tomb, and Donatello's wood Penitent Magdalene.
Next stop after our tour of the museum was the Florence Leather School called the Scuola del Cuoio. It was founded after World War II through the collaborative efforts of the Franciscan friars of the Monastery of Santa Croce and the Gori and Casini families, Florentine leather artisans since the 1930’s. Their mission was to give orphans of the war a means to learn a practical trade with which to earn a living. In May of 1950, Scuola del Cuoio, due to the growing demand of fine quality hand-crafted products, opened its doors to clients inside the laboratories of the school in Santa Croce. The fondest customers of Scuola Del Cuoio were from the United States. Among these customers: the 6th fleet (stationed in the Mediterranean), the U.S. Air Force, the 5th Army and the American Embassies in Europe and even a personal order from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, when he became president, of a leather desk set hand crafted and hand gilded in the Scuola. I was able to purchase some gifts and get them monogrammed by one of their leather artists. It was a fun experience!
Later in the day, we headed to the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, the oldest pharmacy in the world. They have been crafting beautiful fragrances, remedies and herbal products since 1221. Smells have a stronger link to memory than any of the other senses, they can remind us of treasured travel memories. I thought it would be great to buy a perfume from Italy that would remind me of this amazing experience. It was like stepping back in time, they did an excellent job of maintaining the old look and feel of the original store.
To understand the start of the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, we have to look a little closer at the Dominican monks who founded the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. It was common for monasteries to have private gardens that included various types of medicinal herbs that were used to create early forms of medications as well as balms and tinctures. Traditionally reserved for treating the monks within the monastery, by the 14th century news of the healing qualities of the remedies at Santa Maria Novella was beginning to spread outside the walls of the monastery. Perfumed waters were used for all kinds of medicinal treatments, including to fight off the plague in 1381. The main part of the store we visited was originally built as the Chapel of San Niccolò by wealthy Florentine merchant Dardano Acciaioli as a gift of thanks for being healed by the Dominican friars.
The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella products are still produced with ancient recipes from those early monks and friars.
Jimm’s rating for the day: **** (he’s not really into leather and perfume 😂)