Pharmacy Books

“Now we're going to one of the coolest places in Florence."
"Where's that?"
"A pharmacy."
"You're taking the princess to a drugstore?"
"I said a pharmacy. Climb on."
Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella is a pharmacy only in the ancient sense of the word. As soon as I saw and smelled what "pharmacy" it was, I recognized it as the origin of the exquisitely wrapped, handcrafted soaps, colognes, potpourris, and creams I had seen in their shop on New York's Lower East Side. But nothing could compare with seeing them in the frescoed chapel where thirteenth-century Dominican friars had first experimented with elixirs and potions. Centuries-old apothecary jars and bottles sat on the shelves of carved wooden cupboards that swept almost to the top of a high, vaulted ceiling. I walked slowly around the room, taking it all in, as Danny spoke to a smartly dressed salesgirl.
"What an incredible place!" I sighed, walking over to stand beside him. "It's so beautiful."
"Pretty special," he agreed, putting his hand high on my back and turning to the salesperson. "I think mimosa," he told her.
"A very good choice, I think," she said, dabbing a small amount of mimosa eau de cologne on my wrist and then my neck with a delicate applicator.
Danny bent forward so he could smell my neck, then stood back. He drew his eyebrows together and put his hands on his hips. "I definitely think that's you. First, you get this oddly enticing tart kick, then you detect the sweetness. It's a subtle sweetness- not overpowering, but definitely there."
"Hilarious," I said sarcastically and kicked him playfully in the shin.
"Then you get the kick again," he winced, rubbing his leg.”
― Nancy Verde Barr, Last Bite