718 william eamon
in the Venetian republic was that of the Verona apothecary Francesco
calzolari.54 calzolari’s celebrated museum was on the itinerary of practi-
cally every Grand Tour in the early modern period. The museum housed
an amazing collection of fossils, dried plants, and other artificial and natu-
ral objects. Stuffed animals, birds, and reptiles hung from the ceiling and
were displayed on shelves, all tokens of the exotic lands that europeans
had visited (Fig. 19.2).
54 Umberto Tergolina-Sislanzoni-Brasco, “Francesco calzolari speziale veronese,”
Bolettino storico italiano dell’arte sanitaria 33 (1934), 3–20; Paula Findlen, Possessing Nature:
Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (Berkeley/los angeles,
1994), pp. 65–67.
Figure 19.2. Francesco calzolari’s cabinet of curiosities in his Verona pharmacy.
With its display of exotica from all over the world, calzolari’s pharmacy was
literally a natural history museum. although calzolari’s was the most famous
pharmacy in the Venetian republic, pharmacies in Venice displayed equally
fascinating curiosities. courtesy of the department of Special collections,
University of Wisconsin.