Rose water is an indispensable product in every woman’s vanity case, but only a few people know that it was created in Florence in 1300, during the plague epidemy. The monks of Santa Maria Novella convent discovered that the distillate obtained by rose petals acted as a disinfectant and could be used against the disease. In reality, the distillate did not have curative properties against the plague, but in this way the clergymen created the first tonic in history.