Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
Centuries-old Dominican apothecary turned perfumery selling remedies from monastic recipes.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella in Florence opens in 1533, as a teenage Catherine de Medici prepares to leave the city to marry the future king of France and asks the Dominican friars here for a scent that captures Florence itself. It follows the young perfumer Renato Bianco, the unusual base he chose against every convention of the age, and the path that carried him and Florentine perfume-making to the French court. You'll also hear how these friars were already mixing remedies here since 1221, long before that royal request.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Orto Botanico Giardino dei Semplici - Università di Firenze
Renaissance medicinal-herb garden with greenhouses and a centuries-old yew on its original grid.
Basilica of Santa Maria Novella
Dominican basilica with a green-and-white marble facade and a crucifix carved to outdo a rival.
Museo di San Marco
Former Dominican convent housing Fra Angelico frescoes and the cell of a friar burned for heresy.
The SS. Annunziata di Firenze
Renaissance basilica famed for a fresco locals believe an angel finished, and centuries of wax votive figures.
Basilica di Santa Trinita
Romanesque-origin basilica with a restrained Mannerist facade and a chapel of vivid Renaissance frescoes inside.