Heaven-scent: The convent-bred secrets of Santa Maria Novella

FLORENCE, Italy — It always helps to call on some divine intervention — for the way we look, smell and feel.

Divine intervention, coupled with the human touch, is perhaps the secret to the success of the 400-year-old Florentine cosmetic and pharmaceutical company, the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, home to over 600 lifestyle products aimed to make the customer smell and feel, well, divine.

Santa Maria Novella was actually founded inside the convent of the Dominican friars, who began the construction of their convent at the gates of Florence in 1221. Inspired from Above, surely, the monks created their own laboratory to prepare their medicines, ointments and balms. They used ingredients and essences from plants and herbs that they grew themselves — like aloe, anise, orange blossom, basil, camphor, chamomile, fennel and rosemary. Distilled waters from medicinal plants were also used and stored in elaborate ceramic vases.

The entrance to the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, ‘the only Florentine monastery-pharmacy that still preserves its original appearance.’

In 1612, the monks decided to share their secret cures and medicines and opened their pharmacy to the public. Not all products were “curative” — some were called “ephemeral.” The supreme expression of the “ephemeral” products of Santa Maria Novella was the perfume created in the 16th century for Catherine de Medici, the Florentine noblewoman who became a French queen. When she arrived in Paris to marry King Henry II, she had in her bags perfume from Santa Maria Novella. The King and his court were obviously beguiled by her convent-bred scent — Eau de la Reine or “perfume of the queen,” cologne water made from citrus essences and Calabrian bergamot, which the Dominicans friars created for her. It is said that the great French perfume industry developed from the foundation laid by Catherine de Medici and her Cologne Water.

(Today the Acque di Colonia or Cologne Water and the numerous preparations of the Antica Farmacia are conserved, like jewels in a treasure chest, in the ancient rooms of Santa Maria Novella’s main store in Florence’s Via della Scala.)

In keeping with the traditions tied to the Santa Maria Novella herbalist shop, the pharmacy has returned to its ancient ways and continues to adhere to the same scientific precision that the Dominican monks practiced. A visit to the old monastery, now the flagship store, is a trip back in time, when nature’s bosom was the source of all cures — with divine help, of course.

The sales room, with ceiling frescoes by Paolino Sarti. This used to be the chapel of the monastery.

Uncommon scents

What makes Santa Maria Novella different from other perfumeries and pharmacies?

“Its history,” immediately replies Gianluca Foa, Santa Maria Novella’s commercial director as he toured me around the factory in Florence, a few minutes away from the store on Via della Scala. “The tradition behind our pharmacy is our main value. Next year, we will be celebrating our 400th anniversary. We are the oldest house of perfumes in the world, one of the oldest pharmacies in the world and the oldest cosmetic company!”

And yet the company doesn’t want to perfume its identity just with its history.

“We don’t look at our history as our only value, otherwise, we would be a museum. We’re always trying to be innovative. We develop new lines and what we think will be the cosmetic of the future.”

Though still based in Florence, where all of its products and their ingredients (including the flowers from which the scents are drawn) are homegrown, Santa Maria Novella has some 50 concessionaire stores worldwide, including Rustan’s Makati. Its flagship store, just a few steps away from the Renaissance-style Basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, is known to be the most beautiful store in the world. It is a tourist spot as well as a store. I flew to Florence after a trip to Paris via KLM, which flew me to Paris after a direct flight from Manila to Amsterdam.

Some of Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella’s 600 products.

“We don’t spend one cent in advertising,” continues Gianluca. “We reinvest all our profits in raw materials, skilled people and machinery. We combine the most modern machinery with ancient traditions and methods and hand labor. This costs a lot in Italy where hand labor is expensive, but it is an added value we put in our products since our aim is to have the best quality we can. The sales turnover is just the consequence.”

From the monks’ medicinal preparations, Santa Maria Novella now has 44 types of cologne (including its limited edition anniversary specials “Ottone” and “Porcellana”), 30 kinds of soap and two blends of potpourri. It even has its own teas and liqueurs, chocolates and scented candles. One of its bestsellers is its “anti-hysteria water,” a shot of which is said to calm you down. I took a sip of the minty drink, which I guarantee is refreshing and therefore, calming.

Though proud of its past, Santa Maria Novella is always looking at the future with its director general Eugenio Alphandery at the helm.

“We’re always trying to be innovative. We develop new lines and what we think will be the cosmetic of the future,” stresses Gianluca. “We have chemical and biological labs where university graduates develop products. We have a new line dedicated to people who undergo surgical treatment. We help them recover from their wounds faster, one month after surgery. We call these products ‘cosme-surgical,’ between cosmetic and pharmaceutical.”

Gianluca says Santa Maria Novella wants to be known as a company whose products are “Made in Florence (Firenze),” not just “Made in Italy.”

“Most of the time, in other perfumeries and cosmetic firms, the idea is made in Italy but production is elsewhere. We affirm that we are made in Florence, which means we produce everything from A-Z in Florence. Even the labels, boxes and pouches are supplied by Florentines. We have renowned artisans from Florence. We want to maintain our heritage,” declares Gianluca.

“We do all the processes in our warehouse,” he reiterates. “From the petals to the finished products. Very few companies are able to do that because it is more convenient to have production outside, to have other companies working for you. We don’t have agents or distributors. The owner of the company and myself personally travel worldwide. We get to know every dealer personally. He becomes the ambassador of the company. He has to share our passion, ideals and feelings. It’s not just business.”

Silvana Fornari, wife of the Italian Ambassador Luca Fornari, said that when she visited Rustan’s and saw that it carried Santa Maria Novella, she was impressed not just by the department store but by the taste of its president Nedy Tantoco and of Filipinos in general. For to have to know a Santa Maria Novella is to have a certain status, a certain air (pun intended).

The factory in Florence, which boasts of a hardworking Filipino named Domingo Augusto, produces 1,000 bottles of cologne daily. Its potpourri is aged three months in wooden containers before it is packaged — and it has this certain scent that evokes images of stained-glass cathedral windows overlooking lavender fields.

“We are like a diesel engine,” Gianluca says of Santa Maria Novella. “We were slow to start, but we just go on and on…”

After all, products of exceptional quality outlive trends and fads. With their “divine” properties, you can say they, too, have eternal life.

(For Manila-Amsterdam on KLM daily direct flights, you may call (02) 887-1202 for inquiries or you may book on www.klm.com.ph)