Cape Town - Long, long ago, in the 13th century, a group of Dominican monks settled at the church of San Pancrazio in Florence, Italy, then called Santa Maria delle Vigne, to start a monastery that would serve as a pharmacy for the poor.
In the church’s garden, the monks grew botanicals and herbs from which they created elixirs, balms and potions. The word quickly spread around the community and people from Florence wanted to know more about the healing products that the monks were making.
A young lady from a powerful and wealthy family named Catherined’ Medici also got wind of the monks’ impressive fragrant waters. Just before she married King Henry II of France to became queen at the age of 14, she commissioned the monks to create a signature scent for her that was named “Acqua della Regina” or “Water of the Queen”.
She took this beautiful fragrance, made of fresh essences of Bergamot uranges, white flowers and exotic spices, with her to France, where it took people by storm as no one had smelled or heard of perfume or cologne before.
Once in France, she hired her own perfume maker, and this is how the story of the French perfume industry began.
To this day, she is known as the pharmacy’s most important customer. D’ Medici’s patronage culminated in the place known today as the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, the oldest pharmacy in the world and now a global producer of elegant perfumes, contemporary skin-care products and oils.
Tucked away in Cape Town’s De Waterkant is Africa’s only Santa Maria Novella perfumery boutique. A medley of wonderful smells hits my olfactory senses as I walk through the door.
I meet owner Michelle Knapp there. She tells me the story of her first visit to the centuries-old perfumery at the basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
“I found the monastery completely by accident. A friend of mine, an internationally renowned artist, heard that I was going to Florence and she asked me to buy her some fragrances from her favourite perfumery in the world.
“I had the weekend in Florence all to myself, so I made my way to Santa Maria Novella, map in hand. It was in the middle of summer and when I walked in, the monastery was cool and inviting with marble floors.
“Delicate and exquisite scents wafted through the air and breathtaking frescoes decorated the dome. It was almost like a spiritual experience… I instantly fell in love with the Italian heritage of the products,” says Knapp.
“It’s not just a sales room but also a museum, and there you can see how the products are made. They are still handcrafted from organic perfume oils using the original recipes of the Dominican monks. I had never come across anything like this in all my travels,” Knapp says. The products are no longer produced in the monastery but are manufactured at a factory close by.
Although, they use more modern machinery, they still use old operators and practice the same methods as they did back in the day, and everything comes from Florence, explains Knapp.
“I came back to South Africa with a lot of products that I was completely in love with. I fell in love with the purity of it and the rich culture and history.
“I come from a background in the footwear and clothing industry.
“As a little girl, my dad had a shoe factory, and they used an Italian shoemaker, and he was quite passionate. I can walk into any shop and buy a fragrance or a bar of soap, but I wouldn’t have the connection I have with Santa Maria Novella. Every time I use the products, I treasure them… they are something special,” says Knapp.
The three-year-old store at 68 Waterkant Street in the Cape Quarter Piazza is designed to transport visitors to the original Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
“I chose this store because it is also a Heritage space. When I took all the layers of plaster from the walls, I saw that it was an old Cape Malay house built 300 years ago… I found that this was the right space for the brand instead of in a mall.”
Santa Maria Novella delivers overnight countrywide and it offers an extensive range of products including women’s and men’s colognes and perfumes, skin-care and home products, as well as pets’ products such as no-rinse detergent wash for dogs and cats that don’t like water.
Their customers come from around the country, a combination of locals that know the history behind the brand quite well, as well as tourists, says Knapp.
“What sets Santa Maria Novella apart is not just because we use perfume oil but we also offer the customer a range of single floral notes fragrances where we use just one single flower to create a fragrance – such as 100 percent vanilla or jasmine.Because we believe that these fragrances are beautiful and complex by themselves, why do you need to blend it?
“We also offer the customer an opportunity to mix the fragrances for themselves to create a personal fragrance, and most of the fragrances are unisex.”
Customer favourites include the Tabacco Toscano, whose base notes include vanilla, burnt malt and amber, as well as Nostalgia, a fragrance that evokes the memories of old Italian racing cars – the smell of leather, petrol and burning tyres.
“Its (Nostalgia) top notes are leather, rubber and tar, which sounds crazy because you would think that your man is going to smell like a mechanic.
“But the top notes disappear and after a while you smell the wood notes, and it’s very sexy. “It is one of the fastest-selling fragrances for men,” says Knapp.
Her advice on finding the right perfume for you: “It depends on the season. In summer you don’t want to wear a very heavy fragrance. People tend to go for something softer, delicate or fruity floral as they want something a little fresher;
“In the evenings you may want to wear something warmer, more powdery and sensual, such as musk.
“Also, fragrances are quite personal… they are almost like wine: You either enjoy drinking light rosé with lots of ice or a shiraz; it’s really a matter of personal preference,” adds Knapp.
Cape Argus