"Chemiatri" di Dio: i frati gesuati, le loro ricette e la distillazione dell'acquavite

Isabella Gagliardi, God’s Chemists: the Jesuats, their Recipes and the Distillation of Aquavit The article focuses on the distillation’s products and distilling techniques used by the religious congregation of the Jesuats friars. After highlighting the importance of the work in the congregation, the author analyses a Jesuat recipe manuscript composed in 1564 and currently preserved at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library. It is an extraordinarily important text that provides both recipes of the most famous of the distillates produced by the friars – from the aquavit to the perfumes – as well as important traces of the distillation techniques practised by the friars themselves. By cross-referencing data from the recipe book with information from other unpublished sources concerning the congregation, the author describes and details this interesting “alchemical” activity of the Jesuats.