Profumoir

Profumoir is a perfume atelier and scent library in the San Niccolò quarter of Florence, founded by Daniele Cavalli and the Tuscan master perfumer Sileno Cheloni. The two came together through a shared passion for raw materials. The house takes its cue from Renaissance Florence, when perfume was tied to nature, alchemy and fine craft, and it points out that the city's name comes from the Latin florere, to bloom.

Its Biblioteca Olfattiva holds single scent notes to try on the skin and layer into your own blend. In 2024 Firenze Made in Tuscany counted 198 notes chosen by the perfumer, plus an aromatic garden with an extraction room. Visitors can have a perfume made to measure or join a workshop or an incense ceremony. The house's own lines are O.R.I.G.I.N.E., seven scents in which each letter stands for one raw material, and Venenum, seven scents in homage to Renato Bianco, perfumer to Caterina de' Medici.

To smell it, book a visit to the Biblioteca Olfattiva at Via di San Niccolò 72R; the lab and the guest house Casa Profumoir are on the same street at Via San Niccolò 85/95R. A 50 ml O.R.I.G.I.N.E. parfum costs 160 euros, and a 30 ml Venenum parfum costs 115 euros. Try O. Oud first: it blends oud from Malaysia, Cambodia and India, and it shows how the library builds a perfume from a single material.