Legend recounts that in 1380, the father prior of the Carthusian Monastery of St. James, taken by surprise by the news of Queen Joan of Anjou coming to Capri, picked a bouquet of the most beautiful flowers of the island; these remained in the same water for three days and, as he went to throw them away, the prior noticed that it had acquired a mysterious fragrance unknown to him. So he turned to the friar specialised in alchemy, who traced the origin of the scent to the “Garofilium Silvestre Caprese”. That water was the first perfume of Capri.

History tells that in 1948 the Prior of the Charterhouse found the old perfume formulae and, with the permission of the Pope, revealed them to a chemist from Piemonte in the North of Italy, and thus created the smallest perfume laboratory in the world, calling it “Carthusia”, i.e. “Charterhouse”.

Today Carthusia has put into practice its centuries-old knowledge in order to develop a culture of perfume unique in the world. Over the years, it has refined its mastery about the olfactory sense, refining and structuring its comprehension of essences, in order to grant to those who choose its fragrances the purest and most intense emotions. Nowadays, as in the past, all stages of production are carried out by hands to guarantee the accurate application of the natural methods involved and the precious care of traditional craftsmanship..