The oldest perfume manufacturer in the world
In 1708, Johann Maria Farina described his fragrance in a letter to his brother Giovanni Battista:
‘I have found a fragrance that reminds me of an Italian spring morning, of mountain daffodils and orange blossoms shortly after the rain. It refreshes me, strengthens my senses and my imagination.’ When he read the letter, Giovanni Battista probably had no idea that his brother had created a masterpiece that would influence his life and that of generations to come.
Johann Maria Farina would later name it ‘Eau de Cologne’ in honour of his adopted home on the Rhine, making Cologne a renowned centre of perfumery in the 18th century.
In honour of their world-famous citizen, the people of Cologne erected a statue of him on the town hall, where it can still be admired today.
Farina's Eau de Cologne became a favourite of European heads of state, and in 1837 his descendant Jean Marie Farina was appointed the first purveyor to Queen Victoria. Today, the Farina archive holds more than fifty titles from noble houses across Europe, from Portugal to Russia.
During its 300-year history, Farina has served an elite clientele including Napoleon, Honoré de Balzac, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Marlene Dietrich, Indira Gandhi, Romy Schneider and Princess Diana.
Today, the Farina family is still producing the original Eau de Cologne in its eighth generation.