Andiamo! | Citalia Magazine Autumn 2021

ON THE SCENT OF ITALIAN PERFUME
Perfume Mastery Today
While the majority of perfumes today are created synthetically from a
handful of large laboratories, Italy still boasts a traditional handcrafted
perfume culture and is the place to go to find your one-of-a-kind scent.
You can expect long-lasting notes evocative of distant lands and of more
local terroir, such as Amalfi lemons blended with rosemary and thyme.
Italian perfume may seem more expensive but that’s because it never
sacrifices quality in its luxurious natural ingredients. For example, one
ounce of rose oil uses a whopping 5,000 rose petals.
In Venice and Florence you can still find some of the original formulas
of fine perfumes, where tradition and a good nose have been passed
down the generations.
Venice
Head to Venice’s own perfume museum at Palazzo Mocenigo, located
along Venice’s Grand Canal. Discover the world of Venetian nobility as
you explore an entire floor dedicated to the history and craft of perfume,
including a room that resembles a 16th century perfumer’s laboratory,
and a collection of rare perfumes that date back to 2,000 BC.
To explore a family-run perfume house, visit Mavive Parfums Venezia
on Via Altinia, which was founded in the 1980s by the grandson of the
esteemed master perfume-maker, Angelo Vidal.
In 2011 the Vidal family established The Merchant of Venice, a project
that celebrates family perfume tradition and Venetian cultural heritage.
This project naturally evolved into its own luxury contemporary perfume
brand, which you can find at its flagship store at Campo San Fantin on the
site of a former ancient apothecary.
On the Venetian island of Sant’Elena you’ll find a perfume museum on the
aptly-named Via del Profumo, which was founded by a local organisation,
the Fondazione Cammino Del Profumo, in order to tell its part in Venice's
fragrant history.
The museum holds a collection of over 1,500 modern perfumes from
the 20th century, including unique and first editions. There’s also an
adjoining botanical garden, which grows species especially cultivated for
perfume-making, while at the museum shop you can buy the foundation’s
exclusive Sant'Elena Sannita fragrances.
An hour’s drive north of Venice, in the Friuli-Venezia countryside,
you can visit the creative perfume studio and lab of the last remaining
independent Venetian master perfumer, Lorenzo Dante Ferro.
Florence
There’s an entire historic perfume district in Florence, known as La
Corte dei Profumi, or the Court of Perfumes, and it’s here where you’ll
find a handful of master artisanal perfume houses that date back
centuries, including Antica Erboristeria San Simone on Via Ghibellina,
and Erboristeria Gremonihas on via Fanza, both of which date back to
the 1700s.
Head to Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella on
Via della Scala and get a whiff of Acqua di Santa Maria
Novella, the brand’s oldest and most iconic fragrance,
which was commissioned by Catherine de Medici
and is full of fresh citrus notes, including a base of
homegrown Calabrian bergamot.
You can go on a multisensory journey
at Florence’s perfume museum, Museo
Villoresi on Via de’ Bardi 12, which boasts
the Osmorama scent library, a 1000+
strong collection of ancient and modern
aromatic ingredients from around the world, as
well as an aromatic garden and terrace.
Milan
Milan's perfume museum on Via Messina celebrates
fragrances from the 1900s, telling the stories of both Italian
and international masters, while showcasing the all-important
glassware that bottles these delicate fragrances.
Summer/Autumn 2021
Andiamo!