Five Names, One Institution

Officina — The laboratory and manufacturing space within the convent, distinct from the front dispensary where clients were received. For the first four centuries this was the back of house, the stills, alembics, drying racks and mortar rooms where raw botanicals were transformed. The word describes what the building physically was.

Profumo — entered the registered name only in the middle of the nineteenth century. Before Fra' Damiano Beni's directorship and the shift toward cosmetics and fine fragrances, the aromatic preparations made at the Officina were classified as medicines or means of sanitation.

Farmaceutica — Reflects the centuries during which the friars were licensed speziali, trained compounders of galenic preparations, therapeutic remedies and medicinal electuaries. This is the pharmaceutical half of the identity, and the older of the two claims in the name.

Di Santa Maria Novella — The geographical and institutional anchor. It marks the business as belonging to the Dominican convent and church complex founded in 1221. Novella refers to the complex in its entirety, not the basilica alone. The name Santa Maria Novella, New Saint Mary, distinguished this church from the older Santa Maria Maggiore within the city walls.

1221–c.1612 | Orto dei Semplici / Aromateria — The monastery's own garden and distilling rooms, serving the community's internal needs.

1612–1659 | Antica Spezieria di Santa Maria Novella — The first public pharmacy, named with the standard guild term for a licensed apothecary's shop.

1659–c.1848 | Fonderia di Sua Altezza Reale — An advanced alchemical distillation laboratory and official supplier to the Medici court. The Altezza Reale honorific reflects post-1670 usage under Cosimo III; at the 1659 grant, the Grand Ducal style was Altezza Serenissima.

c.1848–1871 | Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica — Used internally on packaging and in the ledgers during the shift towards cosmetics and selected fragrances.

1871–present | Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella — Formally registered as a secular private company following the suppression of religious orders.