Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella — Local services in Florence

TLDR; 10/10 highly recommend this shop!! Aldona is the absolute best!!

My friend and I were in Firenze and we randomly stumbled upon this small shop as we were walking around the Piazza della Repubblica. We walked in to see a gorgeous display of their signature scents, and we also got to know the loveliest Aldona! She was so helpful throughout the entire process.

That day, we sprayed their scents and just took a look around. Aldona was wonderful at explaining all the top and bottom notes of the fragrances, and was incredibly impressive at recognizing each perfume as we eventually mixed up our blotters (like, seriously, we were amazed by her sense of smell). Moreover, she also walked us through all the stories behind each of the scents, and we were able to learn so much about the brand’s history. We probably spent like an hour that day in the shop just chatting, but she made our experience so remarkable! My friend and I, however, are rather indecisive people, and of course, it’s also important to note how each fragrance develops on your own skin. We thus resolved to return the next day, and Aldona was incredibly sweet and gave us some testers to refresh in case we needed.

We returned the next day only to be incredibly torn between some of our favorite scents. We were working with limited space in our luggage, but we just loved so many of their offerings. Aldona was incredibly patient with us and even did these blind smell tests to help us decide our favorite. 2 hours later, my friend and I eventually walked away incredibly happy not only with bottles of their Cinquanta and Angeli di Firenze fragrances, but also memories from the store and our interactions with Aldona.

I cannot emphasize enough that while the perfumes by this brand our lovely in themselves, our experience was 100% curated and made by Aldona. She was literally the best!! And if you get the chance, you must visit...

A wonderful place of history and museum backing on to the main church of Santa Maria Novella. It is housed in church buildings which contain the products of Santa Maria Novella (1221). These products continue to be popular to it's initiated and uninitiated. The brand name and products are fantastic if you like perfumes, waters and soaps. Inspirational cents......however not cheap but something may be affordable like...

This is a cute and cozy mini version of the main Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella shop. Aside from dodging the crazy tourist crowds of the main shop, my wife thought the best part of shopping here was experiencing the elegance of the perfume through the person who works there. Thank you Federica! Your gracious kindness truly elevated a shopping foray into a memorable...