Florence Monks Discover Recipe for a Possible Predecessor of Coca-Cola

An archival discovery at the historic San Marco monastery in Florence has revealed a 19th-century recipe for a medicinal wine elixir containing two ingredients that would later become closely associated with Coca-Cola – coca leaves and kola nuts.
The document was discovered by Father Manuel Russo, rector of San Marco, while researching the historical archives of the monastery’s old pharmacy. It is an advertising sheet describing a drink called “Elixir vinoso ricostituente”, or restorative wine elixir, which was once sold as a medicinal tonic.
Its ingredients are particularly intriguing. The preserved formula lists 30 grams of kola nuts and 10 grams of Bolivian coca leaves infused in one litre of an alcoholic mixture.
The elixir was promoted as a remedy for physical and mental fatigue, headaches and weakness associated with ageing or strenuous physical activity.
Historical evidence suggests that the document dates from the middle of the 19th century. This would mean the recipe probably predates Coca-Cola, which was created in Atlanta in 1886 by American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton.
The similarities between the two stories are striking. Before developing Coca-Cola, Pemberton created an alcoholic medicinal tonic known as Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. It also contained coca and kola and became the immediate predecessor of the future soft drink.
In 1886, following restrictions on alcohol sales in Atlanta, Pemberton developed a non-alcoholic version. On May 8 that year, the new beverage began being sold at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in Atlanta and gradually evolved into the Coca-Cola known around the world today.
The Florence discovery, however, does not prove that Pemberton used the Italian monks’ recipe.
No document has so far been found directly connecting the San Marco pharmacy with the American pharmacist or demonstrating that its formula ever reached him. Father Manuel Russo himself has urged caution about drawing such conclusions.
Medicinal tonics containing coca leaves were not unusual in Europe and the United States during the 19th century. One of the best-known examples was Vin Mariani, a French coca wine created by Angelo Mariani in the 1860s that achieved enormous international popularity.
Drinks of this kind are considered part of the historical background that influenced Pemberton’s French Wine Coca.
The origins of the ingredients used in the Florentine elixir are also interesting. Researchers believe coca leaves and kola nuts may have reached the monastery through missionary and commercial connections with Latin America and Africa.
The San Marco pharmacy has a history stretching back centuries. It operated in Florence from the 15th century, with the friars preparing medicines and various therapeutic products for the local population over generations.
After discovering the old advertising sheet, Father Russo began examining other documents in the archive. They suggested that the elixir was not simply an experimental formula but one of the products offered by the monastery pharmacy. Two empty bottles associated with the drink have also reportedly survived.
There is another curious European chapter in the story. In the Spanish town of Aielo de Malferit near Valencia, a drink called Nuez de Kola-Coca traces its history to the 1880s. A local legend links it to an exhibition in Philadelphia in 1885, although there is likewise no conclusive evidence that it directly influenced Pemberton.
The Florence discovery therefore does not rewrite the established history of Coca-Cola. John Stith Pemberton remains recognised as the creator of the drink developed in Atlanta in 1886.
What the discovery does show is something equally fascinating: the combination of coca and kola existed in European medicinal elixirs before the appearance of the world-famous soft drink.
Whether the Florentine friars produced a distant predecessor of Coca-Cola may never be established with certainty. But the document, rediscovered more than a century later, adds another intriguing chapter to the history surrounding one of the world’s most recognisable beverages.