Aquaflor Firenze
Aquaflor was started by an Italian family in a single room of Palazzo Corsini Antinori Serristori, near Piazza Santa Croce. As it grew, the perfumes moved into a laboratory in the palace's old cellars, where they are still made. The shop is lined with dark wood shelves of essences, and you can have a scent made to measure.
Hours and prices change, so check with the shop before you go.
Aquaflor, a perfume cellar off Piazza Santa Croce
Aquaflor Firenze began in a single room of Palazzo Corsini Antinori Serristori, a Renaissance palace a few steps from Piazza Santa Croce in Florence. Its founders, lovers of art and craft, wanted a perfume house built on beauty and uniqueness. As the business grew, the work moved down into the palace's old cellars, where the laboratory now keeps a collection of more than 1,500 essences from around the world.
The perfumes are made by hand in that Florence laboratory, in the city's old perfume tradition. Visit Tuscany names the master perfumer as Sileno Cheloni. The eaux de parfum come in three collections, Nobili, Preziosi and Rari, beside Florentine colognes, home scents and soaps. You can commission a perfume of your own in a meeting at the perfumer's studio, or make one yourself in a workshop.
Its own shop and laboratory is at Borgo Santa Croce 6, open every day from 10:00 to 19:00. Visit Tuscany describes dark wooden shelves holding hundreds of small bottles of essences. A 100 ml bottle of Bohème costs €230 and a 30 ml bottle €140. Try 1919 first: it recalls the Negroni, the cocktail born in Florence in 1919, with bright citrus and the juniper of gin.
- 1919The Negroni, created in Florence's old cafés in 1919, as a citrus scent with a spiced juniper heart.
- DolcevitaThe sweetness of doing nothing, with strong coffee softened by vanilla.
- BohèmeA free artistic spirit, told through the many shades of violet, for no particular gender.
- Byzantium AoudA meeting of cultures, where Western aromatic freshness joins warm Eastern depth.
- ChandanaA slow, quiet scent that opens on liqueur-like davana and spice, with golden champaca at its heart.
Where to buy
- Own shop and laboratory, Borgo Santa Croce 6, Florence
In our city guides
- Aquaflor (Boutique, Florence)
- Aquaflor Bar a Parfums workshop (Workshop, Florence)