Includes bibliographical references.

The world of distillation has many fathers and mothers and an abundant progeny. The world of Medicine, Perfumery, Alchemy, and Spirits have claimed a leading role. Understanding anything about it becomes a basic need, and a decisive starting point. It is a good idea to begin with the facts before venturing in the farrago of hypotheses and interpretations. In a world divided and diversified as that of distilling the facts can come only from archaeology. Maria Rosaria Belgiorno is the archaeologist we owe the discovery and reconstruction of a device