One of the most distinctive symbols introduced in the 1999 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, a 1955 novel by the American writer Patricia Highsmith, is the perfume by Santa Maria Novella that Dickie buys for his fiancée Marge. In the film only the packaging was shown, so I have always wondered what the mysterious perfume could be.

Now the series created and directed by Steven Zaillian finally gives us a solution to the mystery. A bottle of Acqua di Colonia G. Ugo Stefani by Santa Maria Novella is shown in all its golden foiled glory in the dramatic scene of Dickie’s murder.

This fragrance, now discontinued, was named after one of the heirs of the pharmacist Cesare Augusto Stefani, who first rented the historical Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella on February 5th, 1867, and passed it down to his descendants.

The bottle can be seen again when Tom collects Dickie’s belongings on the beach. This scene reminds me of a similar moment in Casino Royale (2006) by Martin Campbell, where James Bond finds a bottle of Acqua di Colonia al Melograno by the same brand among the belongings of Vesper Lynd.