MILAN — Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella is heading to the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The historic Florentine apothecary is to open a boutique at The Pierre hotel next week, marking its fifth store within the U.S.

The unit might be the brand’s first store out there to embrace the design concept evoking the atmosphere of the unique shop in Florence’s Via della Scala. Doubling as a museum, the seminal store epitomizes a novel customer experience with its Renaissance frescoed ceilings, bronzed angels and aromas lingering within the air from potpourri made with local herbs.

While 14th-century frescoes by Giotto’s workshop are usually not that easy to copy, the brand new 500-square-foot unit also features dark wooden furniture, wealthy marble counters and inlaid marble flooring, with elegant chandeliers ending off the space. The shop is about to hold a collection of the greater than 600 products the corporate has in its portfolio, which encompasses skincare, soaps, pomades, colognes, candles, ambient fragrances and liqueurs, all delivered in its signature, old-school packaging that has contributed to the brand’s charm and success through the years.

Santa Maria Novella’s other stores within the U.S. include units in Recent York City’s SoHo, Miami’s Bal Harbour and Brickell City Center, in addition to in Los Angeles.

Earlier this month, a branded counter opened in Recent York’s Saks Fifth Avenue, too, because the retailer is the exclusive partner for the brand’s department store expansion out there.

Santa Maria Novella’s brick-and-mortar push Stateside has accelerated over the past couple of years, following investment company Italmobiliare’s takeover of the corporate in 2021. As reported, the investment group intended to support the further development of what is taken into account a gem of the Italian beauty industry by enhancing its distribution network and brand awareness internationally.

Product-wise, a recent course was initiated that very same 12 months with some products tweaked to satisfy current sustainability demands and the corporate opening as much as newness by promoting its heritage. The approach culminated in 2022 with the introduction of “L’Iris,” the primary eau de parfum the brand launched in 800 years of history.

The corporate was founded by Dominican friars after they arrived in Florence in 1221 and settled within the Santa Maria Novella location, cultivating herbs to arrange medicines for his or her monastery’s infirmary. After manufacturing successful recipes similar to fragrant waters and a bergamot-based fragrance for the queen of France Catherine de’ Medici in 1533 — which continues to be a bestseller — the apothecary opened to the general public, officially launching as a industrial activity in 1612.

Before Italmobiliare, in 1989 the corporate fell under the control of mechanical engineer Eugenio Alphandery, who bought it for 800 million Italian lira, about 413,000 euros.