Gelsomino

This is the story of Cosimo III de’Medici and of his dear “Stufa dei Mugherini”. This is the story of a falling in love: the jasmine that struck the Granduca’s senses was of a special variety, that came from Goa in 1688. More similar to a small rose than to a classic jasmine, the Granduca Cosimo III had a special greenhouse built for it, and banned its cultivation in all the realm. Only his trusted botanics could perpetrate the variety in the secret “Stufa dei Mugherini”, the warm greenhouse made for the Goa jasmines in the Villa Medicea di Castello, that still enchants us, today.