Ca' Granda, Hortus simplicium: Restoring an Ancient Medicinal Garden of XV-XIX Century in Milan (Italy).

Martina Bottoni,Gelsomina Fico,Claudia Giuliani,Lucia Vignati,Fabrizia Milani,Paolo M Galimberti,Luca Lavezzo,Livia Martinetti,Patrizia Luise Romanini

doi:10.3390/molecules26226933

Martina Bottoni, Gelsomina Fico + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26226933

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Abstract

This work is based on the study of 150 majolica vases dated back to the mid XVII century that once preserved medicinal remedies prepared in the ancient Pharmacy annexed to the Ospedale Maggiore Ca’ Granda in Milan (Lombardy, Italy). The Hortus simplicium was created in 1641 as a source of plant-based ingredients for those remedies. The main objective of the present work is to lay the knowledge base for the restoration of the ancient Garden for educational and informative purposes. Therefore, the following complementary phases were carried out: (i) the analysis of the inscriptions on the jars, along with the survey on historical medical texts, allowing for the positive identification of the plant ingredients of the remedies and their ancient use as medicines; (ii) the bibliographic research in modern pharmacological literature in order to validate or refute the historical uses; (iii) the realization of the checklist of plants potentially present in cultivation at the ancient Garden, concurrently with the comparison with the results of a previous in situ archaeobotanical study concerning pollen grains. For the species selection, considerations were made also regarding drug amounts in the remedies and pedoclimatic conditions of the study area. Out of the 150 vases, 108 contained plant-based remedies, corresponding to 148 taxa. The remedies mainly treated gastrointestinal and respiratory disorders. At least one of the medicinal uses was validated in scientific literature for 112 out of the 148 examined species. Finally, a checklist of 40 taxa, presumably hosted in the Hortus simplicium, was assembled.

Highlights

IntroductionOspedale Maggiore Ca’ Granda (Milan, Lombardy, Italy), today known as Policlinico, is considered one of the oldest hospitals in all of Italy
A total 108 plant-based remedies were cross-referenced on a wide type of historical sources, such as ancient pharmacopoeias, medical texts, and almanacs published between the XV and the XIX century [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78]
Until the end of the XIX century, official medicine was inextricably linked to the use of plant-based complex remedies

Summary

Introduction

Ospedale Maggiore Ca’ Granda (Milan, Lombardy, Italy), today known as Policlinico, is considered one of the oldest hospitals in all of Italy. Its main purpose was to provide free medical care to the poorest inhabitants of the city as well as improve the efficiency of the healthcare system across the diocese territory. This institution was considered a model in the construction of many other European hospitals [1]. Between 1640 and 1643, the Hospital commissioned ceramist Michele Valli, from Lodi, to manufacture 575 majolica pots for the ingredients of the annexed Pharmacy, while new supplies of vases were secured over the course of the first half of the XVIII century [6]. The aforementioned collection is currently preserved by the Service for Cultural Assets of the Policlinico [7]

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