Click image to view large photo

My most memorable souvenir is a paper shopping bag I got from a purchase I made at the perfumery, Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. It is the longest existing perfumery in Italy (officially founded in 1612) and is a famous tourist destination for it high quality products which, to a large extent, are made with the same ingredients and methods as they did centuries ago. It is also famous for it’s most popular historical customer, Caterina de’ Medici, the Queen of France in the 1500’s. As avid admirer for all things Italian and historical, I loved this trip. Walking throughout the grandiose perfumery, I remember feeling as lovely and privileged as the graceful customers of its past may once have. Each moment I look at this bag it takes me back to the memory of my visit in that historical and wonderfully scented place. A moment that will forever be remembered as my trip though “History’s Perfumery”.