L’Osmotheque’s exhibition – “Tribute to Italy, land of perfumes”

The concept of L’Osmotheque’s exhibition “Tribute to Italy, land of perfumes” presented the recreations of the historic formulae of 15 perfumes framed by a two-thousand-year broad period and offered the iridescence of perspectives on Italian perfumery:

Among the exhibited perfumes, some were “pure-blooded Italians,” created and produced in Italy by Italians. Some are not entirely Italian but deserve a full tribute as part of the Italian olfactive heritage.

The exhibition also included perfumes connected to Italy by the recognisable Italian spirit or emotion, such as “dolce vita”, which they interpret and evoke.

FROM THE CATALOQUE

I was especially moved when I spotted the original Borotalcum perfume and men’s Pino Silvestre:

Growing up in Croatia, a country bordering Italy and part of socialist Yugoslavia (which meant pretty closed borders and quite a little understanding of “Western luxury”), I remember that the first “foreign” shower gels that entered our home were German Lux and Italian Borotalco, and they felt so amazing and special!

Also, most men who used the cologne wore the Pino Silvestre. Time passed, and borders, the economy, trends, and possibilities changed, too: at some point in the late 1980s, Pino Silvestre and Borotalco soaps became “the cheap stuff,” with the difference that Borotalco more or less remained a staple in the bathroom of the average household, and Pino Silvestre became, well, “if you really must, or don’t care for better.”

I felt the chills down my spine when I smelled the original version of Pino Silvestre: it was everything and nothing I remember, and its scent opened an iridescent experience of bitter-sweet back-and-forth recollection of the good times and the bad times.

On the other hand, while smelling the original Borotalco perfume, I wished with my eyes closed that my grand-grand-grand-grandchildren, whom I will never meet, keep the tradition of having a blue bottle of Borotalco-whatever in their bathrooms if it smells the same.