Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella’s Vaniglia fragrance has a warm, sweet and oriental scent. Vanilla is a species of the orchid family and is native to Central America. The Aztecs made a beverage with cacao and vanilla (“tlixochill” or black bean) that they drank in large quantities. It was a sort of precursor to modern hot chocolate. Legend tells us that Montezuma offered Hernan Cortes a fragrant drink with an unusual taste: it was a chocolate drink spiced with vanilla. Cortes brought cacao to Spain in 1500, and from there it spread throughout all Europe.

100 ml / 3.4 fl oz