The work Herbs & Spices: Health Workshops, containing essays and writings by numerous specialists from this sector, traces the history of medicinal plants, and offers actual cases highlighting the therapeutic value of plants through the centuries. A fascinating journey into the documents and works held in the National Library in Rome, which takes us back to the very dawn of modern medicine, beginning with the renowned Salerno Medical School – many of the health and hygiene principles established by the said school are still recognised today – via the substantial contribution made by lay and religious institutions to the development of modern medicine, the religions institutions always in keeping with a medical tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, and which in the 16th century (that of the Jesuits, the Carmelites, etc.) was provided with renewed vigour by the discovery of new plants from those far-off lands that had recently been conquered, first and foremost China. Herbs and spices. Health Workshops provides a wealth of information about the art of the chemist’s shop, expounded in an interesting, albeit thorough manner, ranging from the advent of the pharmacopoaeia, to medieval writings on plant-based medicines; from the religious pharmaceutical schools to the lay schools; from the valorisation of local and exotic flower species, to the importance and role of botanical gardens; from an examination of the furnishings and organisation of local apothecaries, to the role of quack doctors: all of this in 402 pages, a true rollercoaster ride of documentary information of considerable historical and cultural importance, which reveals that the historical pursuit of the secret powers of plants is a precious thing of which humanity should be proud, and which must be preserved at all costs for future generations.