L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano T he glossy, celebrity- filled cologne coun- ters of modern shop- ping malls hide a fascinating, if odd history. Today's fragrances offer heady punches of patchouli, sweet vanilla, amber and candy floss, but their ancient counter- parts called for deer musk, the anal secretions of cats and even whale grease. Phew! It took cen- turies before perfume became the personal statement it is today and for that we have Renaissance Italy to thank. This is the story of how the Florentine Medicis and Venetian spice traders brought liquid perfume, or aqua mirabilis, to the world. Italians weren't the first to want to smell nice. In fact the urge to surround ourselves with scent goes back much further, at least four thousand years further, to the ancient Egyptians who were massive fans of fragrance. The earliest Egyptian perfu- mes were closely linked to reli- gion, status, health and beauty with fragrance believed to the sweat of the sun-god Ra. Egyptians also recognized the benefits of fragrance on health and well being. Perfume for per- sonal beautification was highly restricted to the highest status people, however, with only peo- ple such as the pharaoh and their court wearing the precious body oils. Perfume use in the Roman Empire was an entirely different matter. Most people had access to fra- grance, not just those who caught the perfume bottles thrown from Julius Caesar's triumphant parade as he returned from conquering Egypt. Perfume was an intrinsic part of daily life. They even invented the word: par fumum meaning through smoke. Archeo- logical findings have proved that the ancients had dozens of diffe- rent recipes using olive oil as a base then adding plant and herb botanical extracts. And at the hei- ght of their use Romans were estimated to be using over 2800 tons of imported frankincense and 550 tons of Myrrh – both aro- matic tree resins - per year in beauty products, perfumes, bathing oils and even as balm for their feet. But unlike today's cosmetics, ancient perfume was still largely based on gums, resins and oils and oftentimes was even solid. The change to alcohol-based per- fumes would take several more centuries of chemistry and magic. Fast forward to the 1300s. The Christian church had been at war for large parts of the last couple of hundred years in Crusa- des against swathes of the Eastern Mediterranean. They were trying ELIZABETH SALTHOUSE Aqua Mirabilis, the Italian scent that changed perfumery foundation, Feminis developed a new distillation process to create an aromatic, 95% alcohol-based perfume that would become known as Aqua Mirabilis. It was a light, fresh perfume imbued with the most exquisite Italian scents including bergamot, laven- der, lemon, orange, neroli and rosemary. And significantly it wasn't oil based, but alcoholic which meant it was light on the skin, could easily be made into a spray and took fewer raw ingre- dients to create the scent with a little going a long way – three fundamental production elements that would one day lead to the mass production of perfume across the world. We might never have known anything of Feminis's contribu- tion if it hadn't been for his nephew, one Giovanni Maria Farina, called in from Italy to take over the business in Feminis' later life. Giovanni the younger proceeded to modernize things changing the name of the perfu- me and giving it a French twist. He called it Jean-Marie Farinà Eau de Cologne, a name now synonymous with the top fragran- ces on the perfume counter. So the next time you dab on a spot of Chanel No 5, peruse the cosmetic counter or catch a hint of Gucci Bloom on the air you know who to thank. From the ancient Egyptians, via Rome and the Orient to Italy and France the history of perfume has journeyed around the world. And three Ita- lians, from vastly different social strata, were key players, bringing light, aromatic fragrance to the fashionable houses and fashion houses of Florence, Paris and beyond. Grazie Catherine, Rene e Giovanni. An early bottle of the classic 4711 Eau de Cologne: it may come from Germany, but it's all Italian inside to wrestle the Holy Land out from under Islamic rule. But whilst the attempts to conquer lands failed, they did bring back some of the perfume-making customs of their enemies. One of which revived the Roman idea of personal scents and led to the new fashion for wearing a pomander – a little scented ball or bag - to fragrance both the person and their clothes. Around the same time, Venice was flourishing. It was the undi- sputed Mediterranean center for trade with the East. And with the silks came spices, oils and resins: the very raw ingredients essential to perfumery. It's not surprising then that Venice quickly establi- shed the techniques for scent making which, when combined with its talents for glass-making, made it the natural home for per- fumery during the Italian Renais- sance. But perfume wasn't just used to pamper the body at this time; it was also used to add fra- grance to the hair, laundry and even leather accessories. Which leads us south to Florence and the most powerful family who ruled the Tuscan city: the de Medicis. Founded in 1189 the de Medi- ci clan grew wealthy on textile and wool trade, climbing the social ladder from merchants to Grand Dukes of Florence. Their influence on Florentine and later wider Italian government grew through the years. They even produced three popes and 2 queens of France. And it was the first of those ladies, Catherine de Medici, Queen of France from 1547 to 1559, who added to our perfume story. Catherine grew up in the de Medici court, surrounded by splendor, banquets and elegance. She was destined for royalty and in 1533 left Florence to marry Henri, Duc d'Orléans, later Henri II of France. She took with her artists, poets, her dancing master and even a personal profumiere, René de Florentin. Catherine's own perfume had a characteristic fragrance of ber- gamot and orange blossom but it was her habit of wearing scented leather opera gloves that really caught the attention of the French courtiers. Rumors swirled around court that she hated the distincti- ve smell of leather and called upon René the Florentine to disguise it with a personal perfu- me. He set to work creating a musk and civet scent and the effect was a sensation. Catheri- ne's penchant for perfumed glo- ves topped the very height of French fashion with the aristo- cracy clamoring to emulate her with all manner of scented gar- ments such as waistcoats, dou- blets, belts and even leather shoes. And so Italian perfumery spread widely into Europe. Not long after the death of Catherine de Medici an Italian boy with family links to Venice was born. And just like Catheri- ne, he grew up to become a key figure in the history of perfume. His name was Giovanni Paolo Feminis and he was born in the northern Italian Alps in 1666. Giovanni, also known as Giam- paolo, emigrated to Germany as a young man, settling significantly in the city of Cologne and there he opened a distillery-herbalist shop specializing in the sale of perfumes. And it was here, crea- ting his own, innovative perfumes that the young Italian made his name, if not his fortune. Using fragrance recipes writ- ten by herbalist monks as his Spices and resins were among the first things used to produce scents and solid perfumes LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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