Santa Maria Novella, Violetta, Violet, 100 ml. or 3.3 oz. Flacon, Eau de Cologne, 1381, 1980, Florence, Italy ..

Santa Maria Novella is probably the world’s oldest apothecary. It was started in 1221, when there were outcasts living in Florence, Foà says. “Monks were called in to take care of the outcasts and preparations were made to help them while a convent was established. The monks later tried to defeat the Black Death.” One of the earliest preparations, in 1380, utilized roses, as the monks thought that petals of roses combated pestilence. Thus distilled rose petals .. rose water .. was born.

In the 16th century, when Catherine de’ Medici became queen of France, she brought Florentine customs to the royal court. One was the wearing of perfume and she commissioned the Dominican monks to create a fragrance in her honor, “Eau de la Reine.” It represents the first time that alcohol was used in the preparation of perfumes. Today, the fragrance, called Acqua di S. M. Novella in Italian, is a bestseller. In 1614, Friar Angiolo Marchissi created the Acqua di Santa Maria Novella. This elixir, to be diluted in a glass of water, was originally called “anti-hysterics water” and contains essential oils of aromatic plants.

Potpourri is one of the pharmacy's emblematic products, created in the middle of the 17th century. It is a mixture of buds, leaves and flowers typical of the Tuscan hills. Today, the imperial houses of Japan and the United Arab Emirates purchase products for their households from the tony pharmacy. Santa Maria Novella is a particular favorite of the Asian market, which comprises a large part of the clientele. “Our customers understand that we create different products. We have a high position in the marketplace… We carry on the tradition of the monks with innovations in our laboratories,” Foa says.

"My Favorite Scent (and it's not just for women) Well all I can say is that this is my favorite fragrance par excellence. As a botanist and ornamental horticulturist, I am partial to "botanically based", pure flower note fragrances. When I began my fragrance journey in 2011 I did a study via samples of all of the major violet scents by the various houses. The violet from Santa Maria Novella stood out as the most unique in terms of sharp, crispness of fragrance, not the cloyingly sweet scents of such violets as Penhaligon's. And not off the reservation altogether like other houses make. The fragrance that gives violets their distinctive scent, ionones, was the first such element to be synthesized, this in the 19th century, and at that time it was popular with men, your basic "Victorian gentlemen". Nowadays any review of a violet will list it as a woman's scent. I do not agree. But it has to be the right violet and this Violetta by Santa Maria Novella is the right violet." Basenotes Review, Sanitpaulia

Top Notes are Ylang Ylang, and Lilac
Heart Notes are Jasmine, Iris, May Rose, and Violet Leaf
Base Note is Vanilla

Offered here is pristine 3.3 ounce bottle of this gorgeous fragrance. Cool, sweet, and feminine! Beautiful!! So so lovely! Discontinued now, so almost impossible to fine one in this condition which is also full. This is a divine fragrance ..