The Val d’Orcia is an oasis of nature and quiet, where beauty offers harmony to visitors who come to escape from frantic daily life. In this healthy and unpolluted land one finds innumerable varieties of plants, used as natural remedies to treat disturbances and diseases. The sweet smelling countryside gives birth to many species of wild herbs and precious aromatic plants that are indispensable ingredients for alimentary, herbal, cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors

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The idea of creating a local industry for processing medicinal and aromatic wild and/or cultivated plants was created by Agricola Belladonna (Belladonna Farming Enterprise) in an effort to join in the greatness of nature. The “Officina della Natura” represents the momentum to recover ancient knowledge and expertise in the field of plants and flowers, their healing properties and beneficial effects on man.

The modern processing of plants carried out through specific techniques, thanks to the professional advice given by experts, is based on the concept of an exchange between man and nature with the aim of achieving harmony through natural remedies.     Agricola Belladonna’s research facilities are able to identify medicinal plants, grow them, carry out extraction processes and purifying active ingredients to eventually prepare formulas for finished products for consumers

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The products that are obtained are: basic tinctures, medicinal plant powders and basic formulas for tablets, alcohol and water-based distillates, essential oils, wild berry jams and marmalades, honey and honey-based products, aromatic vinegars and flavored oils, liquors obtained through cold maceration or distilled liquors, flavored wines, flavored waters based on natural essences, tinned food, sauces and seasonings for vegetables, aromatic extracts for food industry, flavors, vegetable rennet and other products for the local dairy industry.

Not only are wild plants carefully sought after – like yarrow, liverwort, laurel, common germander, chestnut, cypress, rockrose, burberry (both fruit and leaves), ivy, helichrysum, wild fennel (flowers), juniper, perforated St.John's wort, etc. – but other principal medicinal plants are cultivated – like marshmallow, burdock, basil, borage, pot marigold, artichoke, lemon verbena, Echinacea, escoltia, fig (fruit and buds), sweet fennel, mulberry, etc.

In some cases, the use of medicinal plants can replace treatments based on synthetic drugs, since plants are made up of a complex of substances that gradually regulate the action of active ingredients and, therefore, exert a gentle action on human body.

In this framework, it is worthwhile mentioning some out of the most important drugs, such as tassel, used in cancer treatments, and digitalis used as cardiotonic.