Overview: This book traces the development of the first hospital and academic medicinal plant garden in Florence, under the guidance of the great Cosimo I de Medici, and looks at the plants he and his sons used in their alchemical laboratories to create herbal medicines.

Verdict: A selection of these plants are investigated in detail here in author Angela Paine’s new book Healing Plants of Renaissance Florence: The Development of Herbal Medicine in Florence, in which looks at how they can be used today, including their chemistry and healing properties, as well as research that has been carried out on them.

The Renaissance was a period of unparalleled beauty, excitement, and interest in Florence, despite frequent plagues and wars, thanks in large part to the presence of the Medici family, who virtually invented modern banking and accountancy.

They were outstanding as enlightened and successful patrons of art, architecture, science, philosophy, and above all, every aspect of plant medicine. They collected medicinal and rare plants and created large botanic gardens, which are still there today.

The Medici patronage of the University of Pisa, Cosimo I’s creation of the chair of simples (medicinal plants), and his employment of Luca Ghini revolutionized how herbal medicine was taught.

I actually grew up with a green-finger Italian auntie who mentioned the Botanical Garden of Florence any times growing up, also referencing it as Giardino dei Semplici, which was itself founded on December 1st, 1545 when the aforementioned Grand Duke Cosimo dei Medici purchased the land from the Dominican sisters.

As we grow to learn, historical documents confirm that this garden was the first botanical garden in Europe for the cultivation and harvesting of simple, medicinal plants for therapeutic purposes. The particular type of design and use of vegetation was then also taken up in the successive botanical gardens of Padua, Pisa, Florence, Pavia and Bologna.

Broken up into four parts - Introduction, Plants of Renaissance, Exotic Healing Plants Used in Renaissance Florence - three of those chock full of a plethora of inner chapters, we all get to learn more about such plants and what they can do, as: Aloe, Aniseed, Dill, Fenil, Iris, Juniper, Lemon, Mustard, Rhubarb, Sorrell, Lemon Grass, Liquorice, and amongst others both Cinnamon and Senna.

About the Author - Angela Paine has a BSc in Human Physiology and PhD from the School of Pharmacy, London University, in medicinal plant chemistry. Immersed in the Celtic tradition, she runs workshops on medicinal plants and is the author of Healing Power of Celtic Plants; Healing Plants of the Celtic Druids; and Healing Plants of Greek Myth. Angela lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and splits her time between the UK and India.

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