While exploring the area around Florence’s train station, we wandered into this shop on Via della Scala without knowing what it is initially. There was a small group of tourists milling around an entrance underneath a huge bouquet of dried flowers.
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The outside of the building was unremarkable but as soon as we stepped towards the door, we were welcomed by a pleasant scent.
We stumbled into the oldest retailing pharmacy in the world – Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, in English that translates to the Workshop of Perfumes and Pharmaceuticals of Santa Maria Novella.
By the way, if you like to join us on this road trip to Tuscany from the beginning in Switzerland, click here for the first post of the series. Now, back to the pharmacy.
The pharmacy was established by Dominican friars from the nearby church of Santa Maria Novella during the early 13th century, making it one of the oldest European apothecaries still in operation.
The friars became famous for their potions and in the 1600’s they opened their pharmacy to the public.
The pharmacy still operates in its historic location here on Via della Scala in what was once the Chapel of San Niccolò.
The shop looks more like a museum with the dimly lit and warm hues of the interior, the antique furniture and glass cabinets, the chandeliers, marble floor, and framed portraits.
The shop sells a very large number of fragrances, health potions (lozenges, bath salts, skincare) and home products (soaps and candles), etc.
Some products were also on display for trials at the counter. But there were no commercial messages inside the store.
Upon entry, we were met with a rack of A3-sized single-sheet product catalogues printed on heavy parchment-colored paper. The same catalogue was presented in at least 10 or so different languages. Customers look up what they fancy and ask an assistant for the item. There are no price on the catalog.
They even have products for dogs and cats, such as deodorants !
Click the image to read the catalog closely.
The oldest fragrance product is Acqua della Regina which was created as a gift of love from Caterina de’ Medici to Henry II of France. She was the Queen from 1547 to 1559 known for ruthlessness and many colorful stories, one of which happened in Château de Chenonceau that we visited in the Loire region of France (see our earlier post).
Their niche high-end business has one of the easiest storytelling exercise for a luxury brand – “Firenze since 1221” – we are not aware of any retailer who can claim such an early number – its existence even predated the beginning of Renaissance !
For several generations the pharmacy was owned by a family who honored the traditions of the founding friars.
In 2020, the business was acquired by an Italian beauty products company, Italmobiliare, which introduced a line of eau de parfum first time in 2022 (L’Iris), in addition to their traditional scented water and eau de cologne products.
Unique among its offerings is a line of scented wax tablets. We bought several Melograno (pomegranate-scented) for ourselves and friends (second from left in the photo below). They have a soapy smell in addition to the namesake fragrance, and lasted for quite a long time.
After we paid, we were guided to the back to collect our purchases. There, the minimalist, neutral-gray colored cabinet and white counter could not be more different than the rest of the store. The last stage of the in-store retail experience was decidedly of the 21st-century.
The retailer expanded the business globally and created an online presence (in the US, the website is: us.smnovella.com). During our recent visit to Asia and Australia, we saw shops of Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella in several high-end shopping malls, next to other luxury perfume specialists like Diptyque and Byredo.
Well, we had inadvertently visited this international brand’s flagship store.
If you like to follow us on this epic Italian road trip, click here for the next post.