The itinerant sellers from Friuli, and especially spice and fragrance sellers of the past, were real alchemists, because they produced medications for the cure of the body, such as ointments, plasters, creams and powders. Other sellers were alchemists in a broader sense, because they were quite flexible in changing their activity according to the market’s new conditions. The seller of threads and fabrics started dealing with gloves, scarves, sacred pictures or soaps and cosmetics, if the market requested it. They were caught by an “external and internal change”, as alchemy imposed. The vendors had a precarious life, lived in conditions of constant uncertainty. Tied to market conditions, they sustained a succession of new beginnings (new products, new markets, new cities, new families, new languages)
http://www.medievalists.net/2014/08/pedlars-alchemists-friuli-history-itinerant-sellers-alpine-reality/
