Acqua della Regina
Acqua di Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella

Acqua della Regina / Acqua di Santa Maria Novella by Santa Maria Novella

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7.0 / 10 94 Ratings

A perfume by Santa Maria Novella for women and men. The release year is unknown. The scent is citrusy-fresh. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Citrus

Fresh

Spicy

Floral

Green

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Neroli

Petitgrain

Italian citrus fruits

Heart Notes

Lavender

Clove

Rosemary

Base Notes

Musk

Ratings

Scent

7.094 Ratings

Longevity

5.173 Ratings

Sillage

4.973 Ratings

Bottle

7.158 Ratings

Value for money

5.425 Ratings

Submitted by Ripieno, last update on 07/29/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Echt Kölnisch Wasser Eau de Cologne

Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions

12/06/2024

7
Pricing 8
Bottle 6
Sillage 4
Longevity 7
Scent

Phabu
9 Reviews

Phabu

2

A classic eau de cologne

One can’t help but be charmed by the history of this fragrance, from the oldest perfume house in the world. Of course, this is not the original formula from 1533, commissioned by Caterina de' Medici as a gift for the king of France. And utilising some carefully crafted copywriting, Santa Maria Novella don’t outright claim that it is. Perhaps wisely, given that to do so would be claiming invention of eau de cologne some 150-odd years earlier than any other.

This is a very classic eau de cologne – refreshing citrus mixed with aromatic herbal notes. The citrus notes in this opening are reminiscent of sweet orange fruits, with neroli and light orange blossom acting as the bridge (commonly the case with classic eaux de colognes). The interplay between the citrus and herbal aromatic notes is very important in any eau de cologne, and this one achieves it quite well, with the lavender note coming through with the citruses in the opening.

As with most colognes, this fragrance's longevity is fairly poor. Once the volatile citrus notes dissipate, the herbaceousness of lavender and rosemary comes through quite prominently, perhaps drawing from the house's pharmaceutical roots. This leads to a somewhat medicinal quality to the scent in the dry down, which I imagine could be off-putting for some. Those expecting or wanting a blast of bracing, refreshing coolness are likely to be disappointed here.

It’s a great little collector’s piece, particularly if you can pick one up from their beautiful store in Florence, but as far as eaux de colognes go, I do think there are better alternatives out there.

02/04/2025

5
Sillage 5
Longevity 6.5
Scent

Raluko111
352 Reviews

Raluko111

2

Classic Cologne

Simple, classic, beautiful. It`s easy to be charmed by the freshness and zest of this cologne, unencumbered by too many facets, it`s a tall glass of water for a hot summer day. The rosemary is zingy, the lavender is not overly masculine, it`s a perfectly balanced unisex fragrance. I like this a lot more than the other classic which it reminds me of, Echt Kolnisch Wasser. It`s pretty linear and it does disappear after 2-3 hours, but in my humble opinion, it seems a bit more consistent than Echt KW.

07/29/2025

ClaireV
774 Reviews

ClaireV

1

Basic cologne

Acqua di Colonia, also informally called the Queen's Cologne, is a very nice, natural eau de cologne that features a bright, sour bergamot note that gives you the feeling of being drenched in ice-cold water on a hot summer's day. The bergamot smells like a greener, more bitter lemon, with some of the intense scent of the dark green leaves and rind thrown in for good measure.

Like any good cologne (Acqua di Parma Colonia, Cologne Sologne, Neroli Portofino, 4711, etc.), the purpose is to refresh, not to last or to perform as a proper perfume. And indeed, if you're in the market for a summer cologne, this is an excellent option; natural-smelling, one of the purest bergamot notes in the business, and not badly priced per ml. Once the brief, volatile citrus notes have died away, what's left is a creamy, slightly soapy neroli note, green but with a touch of orange blossom dancing around the edges. It is far from complex, but as with all eaux de cologne, sometimes simple is best.

04/29/2021

10
Bottle 2
Sillage 3
Longevity 7.5
Scent

FvSpee
249 Reviews

Translated Show original

FvSpee

Top Review 35

Neukölln 30 - Hic sunt leones

The series 'Neukölln' with traditional citrus colognes I will close today with episode 30. The series 'Colonialwaren', which deals with woody, spicy and herbaceous colognes, and which is currently at episode 22, will end at 25. Along with the first series 'Colonia instead of Corona', I will then have reviewed and compared 75 colognes: I didn't think at the beginning that the topic would grow like this, but I enjoy exploring this continent. I hope the readers at least a little.

In the future, I intend to deal with Colognes a little less, but they won't be completely ignored by me, of course. I will then start a fourth series with them, again dealing with 'yellow/white' and 'brown' Colognes together, like the first series.

As a final piece of 'Neukölln' I saved this fragrance, which pretends a bit that it's actually Alt-Cölln, namely the world's first cologne. According to the manufacturer's website, "the fragrance, also known as Acqua della Regina, celebrates the perfume that Caterina di Medici commissioned the Domican monks to develop in 1533, and which she took with her to France when she married Henry of Valois."

Well. Anyone with legal training knows that phrases like "this fragrance celebrates the fragrance that" are usually recommended by corporate legal departments to avoid defeat in court if competitors were to sue for unfair misrepresentation. In other words, I'm assuming this scent here has absolutely nothing to do with a 1533 scent (if there even is one), and that was hidden behind the flowery party mood wording. I also can't really imagine that this scent here is the Ur-Cologne, 250 years older than those of Farina Gegenüber, 4711 et al, and that this would have been hidden in all the standard works on the history of colognes.

Adding to the confusion, this fragrance is sometimes referred to as "Colonia" i.e. simply "THE" (traditional) Colonia of this company (and so it says on the bottle pictured here on Parfumo), but sometimes as "Santa Maria di Novella by Santa Maria di Novella" (so here in the perfume database or similarly as "Acqua di Santa Maria di Novella by Santa Maria di Novella", so currently on the company's website: https://uk.smnovella.com/products/7010311. As just stated, it is also supposedly still known 'Acqua della Regina'. However, as Yatagan, who knows his stuff, assures me on high, it is definitely all supposed to be the same fragrance.

With the fragrance notes it looks similarly confusing, because here "white flowers" are indicated, but on the company homepage, among other things, rosemary and lavender (classic Farina ingredients). Be that as it may, for me it's all too much mumbo jumbo, boondoggles and mumbo jumbo, everything gets lost in a friendly southern approximate, in a historically elusive diffusion, where instead of clear geographical toponyms on the maps only a laconic as well as poetic "Hic sunt leones" is recorded.

I stick to the fragrance (thanks to Yatagan for the sample) and state not so poetically, but just as laconic: A by projection and durability badass and uncompromisingly dedicated to underperformance watery, pleasing classic citrus colognig, with minimal green touches, a medium sweetness and a wadding softness (musk alert level yellow), which is not quite secret to me.

After thus a total of four fragrances of this house (Russa, Sicilia, Cuba and the present), none of which I disliked, me but also none really completely thrilled, I make (despite the beautiful bottles) at 'Santa Maria di Novella' a hook.

01/15/2025

3
Sillage 3
Longevity 7
Scent

Olfarte
18 Reviews

Translated Show original

Olfarte

3

Almost 500 years ago, that was a lot of freshness and fragrance!

I was so looking forward to Santa Maria Novella and thought it would be fun to start my fragrance journey through the gardens of a Florentine monastery and the surroundings of Florence with the very original scented waters.
So I ordered a Discovery Kit with 8x 2 ml Eau de Cologne, which I was pleased to receive so quickly (accompanied by 2 EdP samples).

The first tester in the set is Acqua della Regina, the oldest fragrance from Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella from 1533. I took a look at the fragrance direction and the fragrance pyramid and started my introduction to the brand with great anticipation with this water (sprayed 1x on my forearm).

After everything I had read about it, I can once again only blame it on my "strange" skin that nothing of what I had expected happened: On my skin, the water actually smells a little citrusy and hardly spicy, not aromatic and not fresh at all, but only at the beginning of citrus fruits and then almost only of white flowers with lots of musk - the whole thing very soft, almost cloudy. I had imagined it to be completely different.

In detail:
In the first few seconds, it was clearly the typical citrus of a cologne ("4711"), but after a very short time on my skin, it lost almost all of its freshness. There was almost no citrus left, but white flowers in abundance - but somehow very light (and not just slightly soapy), not very sweet, without expression. Strange...
Unfortunately, the heart note is completely missing on my skin: still white flowers, no lavender, no rosemary (which I love so much), if anything a little clove. But not really spicy either, just soft. Strange...
Soon, very soon, the flowers are joined by musk - and it stays until the end: after just 10 minutes, there's hardly any scent of the Acqua left on my skin (and here I have to say for myself: fortunately).

So I tested the whole thing again on a fragrance strip:
The fresh, citrusy "4711" remains until the end. After a few minutes, it becomes more floral. I can't really make out the aromatic herbs and spices here either, nor the lavender - the aroma can only be guessed at by the fact that the flowers are relatively less sweet. On paper, the musk is very subdued, which is good for the Acqua, so that it has a certain freshness from start to finish. That's how I would like it in midsummer!

But the way the water smells on my skin, all that remains is the awareness that almost 500 years ago, this was already a lot of freshness and fragrance!