In pharmacy, the knowledge of simples is linked to the technical competence in the preparation of the medicaments.

The Arab School perfected several pharmaceutical techniques. Their importance can also be seen in the language, with several specific terms, which clearly have Arabic etymology such as alambicco, alcool, sciroppo, elisir, collirio (alembic, alcohol, syrups, elixirs, eye drops).
Liber servitoris Albucasis (Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, 936 ca.-1013) was published in the 1623 Venetian anthology and it is a pharmacy treatise by the famous Arab-Andalusian surgeon. Processing techniques of plant, animal and mineral simples, with advanced proto-chemistry discoveries such as distillation are described. There are descriptions on how to package essential oils, syrups, aromatic waters, hydro-alcoholic solutions and how to make opium from poppy seeds.

The Salerno School embraced and carried on with the teachings from the Arab School. Saladino Ferro d'Ascoli wrote the Compendium aromatariorum in the mid-fourteenth century: it is a manual for pharmacists (aromatari) which collected all of the knowledge of the time, which was also published in the Venetian anthology of 1623. The work was written in a question-answer style, practically a manual for the State examination, included in the 1231 Constitutions of Melfi, issued by Frederick II, which also regulated the practice of the pharmacy. There is little known about the author except that he was a physician to the Prince of Taranto, as noted in the incipit. The work was divided into 7 parts, the first lists the work of the pharmacist, the techniques ("quod est officium aromatarium"): "terere, abluere, infundere, coquere, destillare, bene conficere, et confecta bene conservare" (c. 252r), i.e. mashing, to reduce to powder, washing, to imbibe the powder in water, vinegar or milk, infusing or macerating, cooking, for herbal decoctions, in a bain-marie, in water vapours, or in sand, ash or manure, distilling, mixing and preserving well the ingredients. The main ethical norms, to which the pharmacists had to conform their conduct, follow ("qualis debat esse aromatarius") (see the section on the profession of pharmacist). At the end, there is a list of the necessary books ("quo libri sunt necessaria ipsis aromatariis pro arte eorum exercenda recte et cum bona conscientia"): the books of simples by Avicenna and Serapion, the liber de Synonymis Simonis Ianuensis, liber Servitoris, the books by Mesue (including Pseudo-Mesue), the Antidotary of Nicholas de Salerno, the Circa instans, Dioscorides and the Grabadin. The Venetian anthology collected the majority of books "necessaria aromatariis". The second part deals with nomenclature, composition and actions of the compounds and is a list of recipes from the Antidotary of Nicholas. The third part deals with "weights (see the section on doses and measures), and the fourth with pharmaceutical works; the fifth is about harvest times for plants; the sixth about storage of the medicaments" (Conci p. 210-211) and includes a list of what we would now call expiration dates on packaging labels. In the seventh and final part are the ingredients and the medicaments to keep always in the pharmacy.

After Paraclesus, chemical preparations came into great force in the pharmacy, with increasingly developed discoveries, which find systematic exposition in the Universale theatro farmaceutico of Antonio de Sgobbis, published in Venice in 1667. The one reproduced is the 1682 Venetian edition, held in the Library of the History of Science at the University of Padova, in the Pecile collection (digital copy). The book, as stated in the title page, is a compendium of well-known pharmaceutical techniques at the time, because they are "fondato sopra le preparationi farmaceutiche scritte da' medici antichi, greci, & arabi, principalmente da Galeno, e Mesve. Appoggiato sopra le preparationi, dette spagiriche, già da gli antichi abbozzate, ma da più moderni medici illustrate ... scritte dal Beguino, Crollio, Hartmanno, Libavio, Minsicht, Paracelso, Quercetanno, Sennerto, & altri... rappresentante e le vne, e l'altre preparationi, per fondamenti unitamente necessarii alla vera, & artificiosa methodo farmaceutica. Adornato & ampliato oltre le fabriche e compositioni medicinali, in qualsiasi forma fabbricabili, contenute ne'gli antidotarij veneti di Giorgio Melichio, aumentato da Alberto Stecchini (based on the pharmaceutical preparations written by the ancient physicians, Greek & Arab, mainly by Galen and Mesue. Based on the preparations, called spagyric, already outlined by the ancients, but illustrated by more modern physicians ... written by Beguin, Crollio, Hartmann, Libavio, Minsicht, Paracelsus, Du Chesne, Sennert, & others...)".
The processing work of the pharmacist became much more complex than that described by Saladino d'Ascoli. De Sgobbis organised them into five categories: mashing, imbibition, extraction, distillation and calcination. Galenic and spagyric were mixed together, according to the author, because history does not move forward by elimination, but through successive discoveries, and the two models have thus co-existed, for example with the Arab techniques, up to modern refinement. In any case, iatrochemistry prevails in this work. Its novelty lies primarily with extraction, distillation and calcination. Extraction is carried out with the suitable liquid: alcohol, water, dew, vinegar, mead, or whey. After maceration, the liquid is extracted, by decantation or filtration, and is concentrated through heat. The specific action for salts is deliquium (liquefaction through absorption of moisture from air), to obtain the oil of tartar (potassium carbonate), perchloride and iron sulphate, to clean pearls and coral. Distillation, already known to the Arabs, became one of the most important processes and it was used for herbs, seeds, honey, sugar, woods, fats, horns, bones, blood, resins, gums, metals, and salts. Special distillations are those processes, still in use, of rectification, cohobation, and sublimation (for mercurial salts). Calcination, already being used by the Arabs, reduces a material to powder by ridding it of moisture through heat and acids, and is used especially for metals.
De Sgobbis included recipes after techniques. The apothecary "allo Struzzo" in Venice, extends the use of antidotaries from its predecessors in the same pharmacy, Giorgio Melichio and Alberto Stecchini. There is also mention of the famous medication for which the Venetian pharmacy was famous around the world: theriac. The doses and the techniques for its preparation are described in detail, at times with warnings about variants and precautions. Storage and administration suggestions follow that and, finally, the Benefit, or the therapeutic indication/information.
In the conclusion, the author apologises because, "daily occupations have for many Months delayed the publication of this Work" (p. 792) and he promises at least four supplements about some "curious Rarities not easily found at some Pharmacopoeia" (ibid), such as unicorn, mummies, vipers and bezoar stone, a concretion that forms in the stomachs of ruminants, then highly regarded in the pharmacy.

Pharmacy is heading towards science, but the legacy of centuries of tradition is strong. Health is given "Herbis non verbis" (with herbs, not with words): that is the opening of Il nuouo tesoro degl'arcani farmacologici, galenici, & chimici, o spargirici, published in Venice in 1688 by Felice Passera (1610-1702), who was a Capuchin apothecary in the hospital of Brescia (digital copy vol. 1 e vol. 2). The title refers to the books of secrets and, like them, is written in a pleasant, popular style. The work combines practical knowledge with spagyrical innovations, and superstitious tradition with the ancient wisdom of the numerous authorities cited, in a non-systematic approach, seasoned with an on-going tribute to Paracelsus, that honours his magical side more than his chemistry side. For example, he reproduces the illustration of the scala arborea by Ramon Llull (col. 98-99).
The correspondence between micro and macrocosm, extolled by Paracelsus, can be seen in the astral influences and in the correspondence of the planets to metals and parts of the body, shown in a beautiful illustration (col. 168-169), as well as in the astrological indication of the proper time for harvesting medicinal or therapeutic plants such as the "Cavar sangue" (col. 190-191). Some recommendations simply reflect practical agricultural knowledge linked to the seasons and to the moon: "Remember to harvest your fruits when the moon is waxing… what was mentioned in the writings by Paracelsus and can also be confirmed by the Peasants” (col. 53). Meteorology also had a correspondence to the state of man: particularly with epilepsy: as in the "Upper World" there is the storm with all its manifestations, so in the "Lower World" there is the epilepsy seizure, where the thunder recalls "the concussion of the whole body", "when there are clouds" "the eyes become dark", "the rain" is "the froth", etc. (col. 39).
The world of correspondences and analogies is also expressed in the signatures of plants: an ancient theory according to which “plants which represent Animals or parts of Animals, or resemble in some way parts of plants [are] useful in strengthening the parts [of the body] which have similarities, or they can be useful to treat illnesses caused by these animals” (p. 15). An analogy made explicitly by superior will: "The Creator of Nature has placed before our eyes the wonders of Nature, its virtues and the virtues of the plants… and the properties of each one which are appropriate and adapted to our needs just like a beautiful Mirror" (ibid). For example: "la lanugine de Pomi cottogni, che in qualche modo rapresenta li capelli: per ciò la sua decottione è efficacissima nel restituir i capelli decaduti per cagion del morbo Gallico" (the fuzz of a quince, which in some way represents hair: therefore, its decoction is extremely efficient in growing back hair lost due to the French disease) (col. 24). Another example, very Christian, of a signature of plants: to chase ghosts away with "la Ruta per esser il segno della Croce impresso sopra il seme di quest'Herba" (Rue, since a cross-like symbol is impressed on its seeds) (col. 32).
Francesco Passera always combined numerous theories: for the properties of medicinal simples, he reproposed traditional qualities, acting on the humours, and occult properties. The Tesoro is full of practical suggestions for the preparation, storage, administration and doses of remedies. It summarises and condenses the knowledge acquired through experience, from traditions and from his illustrious predecessors, at times including several versions in simple copy, without critical comment, in the knowledge of being in a moment of transition, if not confusion: in Osservatione De principij Chimici (Observation of the Principles of Chemistry), the author writes "Mà, à dir il vero, se più essattamente essaminasi la cosa, quasi non trovasi cosa sopra di cui fondar si possa certo giuditio" (However, to be honest, if I would examine more precisely the issue, I would not find any issue on which I could base a certain opinion) (col. 90).