Antica Farmacia Sant'Anna · Genoa · Since 1650
Four centuries on the hill of Sant'Anna
For nearly four hundred years, Carmelite friars have prepared waters, balms and remedies on one quiet square above Genoa. This is their story, and the reason a few of their preparations now sit on our shelves in Chiswick.
Prologue
A lift climbs out of a road tunnel in the heart of Genoa. At the top lies a quiet square, a Baroque doorway, and a room where the air still smells of herbs, essential oils and rose water.
This is the Antica Farmacia Sant'Anna. In nearly four centuries, it has never changed hands.
IChapter one · 1584
The convent on the Castelletto hill
In 1584 Father Nicolò Doria, son of one of Genoa's great families, came home from Spain, where Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross had renewed the Carmelite order. On the Castelletto hill he founded the convent of Sant'Anna, the first house of the Discalced Carmelites in Italy.
The Doria, Cattaneo, Spinola and Pallavicini families paid for its walls. Inside, the friars planted a cloister with medicinal herbs. In time it would be known as the Cloister of the Roses.
- 1584
- The convent is founded
- 1st
- Discalced Carmelite house in Italy
- 4
- Noble Genoese families as patrons
“By tradition, the first potatoes grown in Italy were planted in this cloister, brought back by Father Doria from the court of Philip II of Spain.
IIChapter two · 1650
Nos medicinam paramus, Deus dat nobis salutem.
We prepare the medicine. God gives the health.
Carved on the small wooden angel above the counter, dated 1650
A pharmacy born of need
By the middle of the seventeenth century so many sick people climbed the hill that the friars built a separate wing to prepare and dispense medicines. The earliest record of their pharmacy, from 1650, is kept today in the Vatican Apostolic Archives.
Its first great apothecary, Brother Martino of Sant'Antonio, set out every day to gather what he needed for potions, medicines and poultices. The sick came to his door in numbers, and he received each of them in the same way.
“Whole attention to the patient is the first cure of the illness.”
Step inside
A room that time forgot to change
Dark walnut shelves climb to the vaulted ceiling. The floor is chequered in white and grey marble. Herb drawers still carry their original labels, an antique scale waits on the counter, and the only light falls from tall windows. There is no music. People speak softly.
di Padre in PadreKnowledge handed down from Father to Father since 1650
IIIChapter three
Four centuries in ten moments
- 1584
Father Nicolò Doria founds the convent of Sant'Anna on the Castelletto hill, the first Discalced Carmelite house in Italy.
- 1650
The earliest record of the friars' pharmacy, kept today in the Vatican Apostolic Archives.
- 1652
Brother Martino becomes chief apothecary, going out each day to gather ingredients for his remedies.
- 1778
The Genoese doctor Lorenzo Robello is engaged to prepare medicines and to teach the craft to a friar.
- 1792
Brother Giovanni della Croce revives the pharmacy and fits the dispensary with the walnut shelving still seen today.
- 1818
Brother Bernardino of Sant'Anna refurbishes the rooms into the layout that survives to this day.
- 1840
Brother Modesto qualifies as a licensed pharmacist for Genoa and the Kingdom of Sardinia.
- 1933
A lift opens from the Corso Magenta tunnel, carrying visitors up to the convent and its pharmacy.
- 1977
The Carmelites of Arenzano begin distilling lavender essence to support their missions in Central Africa.
- Today
Still on the same square, still in the care of the Carmelite community, and listed among Italy's historic businesses.
IVChapter four · The Cloister of the Roses
The rose of Carmel
For the Carmelites the rose is the flower of Mary, the Rosa del Carmelo. In the Cloister of the Roses the bushes flower each April and May, “a true triumph of scent and colour”, as the friars describe it.
The convent archive holds a recipe for rose syrup from the early 1700s, and it is still made by hand in much the same way. In Genoa it is almost a ritual: grandmothers climb the hill with their grandchildren to buy a bottle.
In the early 1800s even the pharmacy of the great Pammatone hospital came here for dried red roses. Today rose water remains one of the most loved preparations on the friars' shelves.
From the rose shelfSymphony of RosesRose water and the classic rose soap, in a white Omnia gift boxDiscover the rose range
VChapter five · Missioni
From the field to the mission
In 1977 a Carmelite missionary from Pietrabruna, a mountain village in Liguria where his family had always grown lavender, asked a simple question. Could that precious flower help the poorest people of the Central African Republic? The friars of Arenzano have distilled their lavender essence for the missions ever since.
The Carmelite fathers, setting out from the Sanctuary of the Infant Jesus of Prague at Arenzano, have lived in the Central African Republic since 1971. Crossing the savannah, they reach some seventy villages to share the Gospel and care for the poor.
Sales of the lavender essence built the seminary at Yolé, where many young men grow up and study, and they help the friars' thirty schools, the sick and families with nothing to eat. In 2014, when violence reached the capital, the Carmel of Bangui opened its gates and sheltered some ten thousand people.
- 1971
- The friars arrive in Central Africa
- 70
- Villages reached across the savannah
- 30
- Mission schools supported
- i
Gathered
Fresh flowers are cut by hand each July. It takes two hundred kilos of them for one kilo of essence.
- ii
Distilled
Steam distilled in traditional stills, then left to settle. Nothing is added.
- iii
Bottled
Sister Caterina bottles and packs each one in the friars' laboratory at Arenzano.
- iv
Given
The proceeds travel to the missions in the Central African Republic.
Pro missioni Look for this mark on the shelves below. It shows the lavender preparations made to support the Carmelite missions.
VIThe apothecary shelves
From the friars' shelves to yours
A small selection, chosen by our team in Chiswick from the friars' pharmacy and the Carmelite lavender range. Add the pieces you would like to your enquiry and we will reply with availability, gift wrapping and collection or delivery.
Looking for something you cannot see here? The friars make far more than we can shelve.
For Christmas and for Valentine's Day
A gift with four centuries inside it
Our gift sets pair two favourites from the friars' pharmacy in a white Omnia box, tied with ribbon. For corporate gifts, larger orders or a hamper made to measure, send us a note and our team will put it together.
From Genoa to Chiswick
Whole attention, still the first cure
Brother Martino believed that the attention we give a person is where healing begins. It is a principle we recognise at Omnia, where we treat the whole person and not only the complaint.
That is why we chose to bring the friars' preparations to Chiswick: simple formulas, honestly labelled, with four centuries of care behind them. Come and see, smell and try the range at the clinic, and our team will gladly help you choose.
Visit
Omnia Lifestyle
8-9 Bedford Corner, The Avenue
Chiswick, London W4 1LZ
Call
Your enquiry
Ask us about the Sant'Anna range
Leave your details and our team in Chiswick will reply by email with availability, prices for larger orders and gift wrapping.
Email info@omnialifestyle.co.uk or call 020 4515 0000.
