Hygiene is considered to be something of a modern preoccupation, but there is evidence that soap was invented by ancient civilisations nearly 5,000 years ago. Archaeologists unearthed traces of it in Babylonian clay artefacts, which were also inscribed with recipes for soap-making.
In Aleppo, olive oil, laurel berry oil and lye were melted down, then cooled underground to form a vast, avocado-green sheet, a process that remains largely unchanged today. (Some myths recount Cleopatra bathing in milk, using Aleppo soap). Echoing this ancient wisdom, Santa Maria Novella – the oldest pharmacy in the world, with roots that trace back to 13th-century Florence – produces a buttery milk soap bar that is available unscented or containing botanical ingredients such as gardenia or verbena.
