www.smnovella.it

Upon their arrival in Florence from Spain in 1221, the Dominican monks proved to be farsighted in ‘business transactions’ related to trade. In their kitchen gardens adjacent to the convent, which was built at the gates to the city, they began to study – experimenting with formulas that were works of genius for those times – the properties of the herbs that would subsequently give rise to authentic modern products of wide consumption, known throughout the world as far as the Indies and far-away China.
The Grand Duke of Tuscany also took note of such great apothecarian ingenuity. In 1612, he encouraged the foundation of this enterprise as the “Foundry of His Royal Highness”, and it was thus that one of the most ancient pharmacies in the world: the “Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella”, originated. The emblematic title gave preference to perfume, i.e. to the ephemeral, to the curative aspect of a more interior and spiritual inspiration, the curative or pharmaceutical one.
The idea seemed however to be a winning one, if it is true that one of the historic ‘testimonials’ of the Dominican brand was no less than Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France. For her, the monks created the perfumed ‘Acqua della Regina’. This then became the famous ‘eau de Cologne’ when, in the 18th century, Giovanni Paolo Feminis began to produce it in that German city.
Still today, the history of this pharmacy is housed within the frescoed walls of the ancient Florentine convent in Via della Scala 16, which ceased to be a church in the year 1600 when a fire left only the walls standing. In 1848, the building was restored, and it appears today like a place of true ‘worship’ for those who love the elegant and enveloping perfumes that bear the ‘Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella’ trademark.
Here, in front of the enthusiastic gaze of tourists, it is not only the exclusive products of this historic Tuscan enterprise that are on sale: the mixture of pot-pourri, the delicate soaps, Rose Water, and the liqueur Alkermes come to mind. Here on display are centuries of culture and enthusiasm for herbal medicine raised to the art of perfumery.
It exudes a simple and colossal fascination that, like a sweet perfume, binds itself to the skin as soon as you enter the Sales Room – the old “Chapel of St Nicholas” – the gift of Dardano Acciaiuoli to the monks who had taken care of him.
Its ceilings depict the four parts of the world, a testimony to the new commercial horizons opened up by the monks. Perfumes still ‘infect’ visitors to the Museum Room, which is furnished with pharmaceutical jars made in Montelupo Fiorentino, as well as the Room of the Old Apothecary Shop with its 17th-century furnishings and the Green Room, formerly the place for cultural ferment and philosophical research.
The Sacristy, instead, conserves frescoes by Mariotto di Nardo, a pupil of Orcagna, and houses the Library with its volumes on plants, herbs and perfumes.
There is no lack of pestles, mortars, and small presses, small pitchers, thermometers and majolica jars, ancient distillers for herbs. These were the same instruments used by the ingenious monks, and are a part of the Old Laboratories: discarded a short time ago, they have now become the contents of a museum. In the Room of Antique Machinery, instead, there are mixers, presses for soap, and punch cutters for labels.
From the neo-Gothic furnishings of the ancient convent in Via della Scala to the Art Nouveau façade of the new headquarters in Via Reginaldo Giuliani – where the productive processes have now been transferred – the step is shorter than one can imagine.
The work techniques – even if carried out using avant-garde machinery, and no longer the old apothecaries’ saucepans – follow artisan processes of unquestionable efficacy that avail themselves of a technological and scientific knowledge capable of extending the range of products, whether they be ephemeral, curative or alimentary.
“Perfume like white wine and soap like cheese,” says Eugenio Alphandery, Manager and co-proprietor of the firm, in illustrating the careful choice of oils and recipients for the perfumed essences or the maturing processes. “Our market caters above all to foreigners: we have 30 shops throughout the world, from Europe to the United States, and even in Japan, which are giving us great satisfaction”.
As much, perhaps, as the fifteen degree theses that up to now have dealt with the “Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella”.  Business, as always, continues to be fashionable.