Cinquanta (that means 50) was created in 2015 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of becoming twin
cities of Florence and Kyoto. In 1998 the City of Kyoto donated a Shorai oasis to the City of Florence,
a small garden in karesansui style (a landscape characterized by stones and rocks). In Japanese, the
word shorai means future, in the hope that the cities of Kyoto and Florence, twinned since 1965, will
maintain this deep bond for a long time. In 2012 the garden was enriched with a waterfall and a
pagoda for tea.
It is a fruity-floral chypre where top citrusy notes blend with green tea and rose to introduce the
musky woody base note.
The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella can trace its roots back to the Florence of 1221. In that year, Dominican friars founded the convent of Santa Maria Novella, and began to cultivate - among other things - a garden. From that same garden, many centuries of experience in pharmacopeia and natural preparations began to develop. And in later years that experience would expand to include the worlds of cosmetics, fragrances and wellness products.
Inside the convent complex of the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence is the historic shop of the Officina which has been the heart and soul of its activities for centuries.
For 800 years, this has been the place where antique preparations, perfumes and cosmetics are created and distributed, making the shop in Via della Scala the oldest pharmacy in the world. "La Scala" is the flagship museum of the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica Santa Maria Novella.
The sacristy frescoed at the end of the fourteenth century by a pupi