PICCIOLA PHARMACY MUSEUM IN TRIESTE

Abstract

Using poetic licence, the author of this essay interchanges documentary approach and her own impressions to describe a unique Italian museum dedicated to the history of pharmaceutical practice. This Picciola Pharmacy Museum was founded in Trieste in 1799 by the Picciola family, later to be taken over by the du Bans. In addition to valuable exhibits such as furniture, apothecary’s utensils and tools, there is a library with substantial holdings, including the first poetry collection Chamber Music of the great Irish novelist James Joyce, who happened to live at the same address between 1910 and 1912. For this reason the museum has been included in the well-known “Trieste Joyce School” itinerary. The author concludes that the Picciola Museum has helped many a visitor to understand and appreciate the forgotten world of classical pharmacy and other precious curiosities related to the political, cultural and historical development of Trieste.