Acqua di Firenze
by I Profumi di Firenze

My first spray of Firenze wasn't pleasant. I wasn't sure what I smelled, but the very first scent smelled sour or bitter to me. And I'm still a bit unconfortable with that very first smell of the topnote. It's almost like a sour vanilla or jasmine mix - it is a bit odd. But once it hits my skin, I love it. The longevity is amazing. It stayed with me all day. The middlenotes are very clean smelling, almost powdery. All in all a very clean, light floral scent.

12nd October, 2011.

The liquid is blue and the bottle says “Acqua,” but this is no aquatic sport fragrance. Acqua di Firenze is actually a very, very dry, green floral fragrance of extraordinary clarity and brightness. What it does share with the common run of fresh aquatic scents in a pervasive air of cleanliness. This comes not from melon, citrus, or ozonic notes, but from an intensely soapy, powdery foundation. A healthy dose of ashy-waxy aldehydes helps reinforce the sparkling clean aura Acqua di Firenze casts about its wearer. This scent is deceptive in its delicacy. While transparent, it projects surprisingly far, so that you’ll catch unexpected drifts of its soapy florals as you move about.

Acqua di Firenze’s relatively sparse structure eventually dissipates into a whisper of a clean musk and soft wood drydown. Acqua di Firenze is unfailingly polite throughout its development, and though the aldehydic floral accord strikes me as “perfumey,” the scent’s dry, clean character renders it paradoxically quite gender neutral. I happen to find this type of aldehydic, soapy fragrance too stuffy for comfort, but I have to acknowledge Acqua di Firenze’s quality. I’d never wear it myself, but I do recommend that anyone who’s looking for a fruit-free, non-aquatic take on “clean” give this scent a try.

13rd December, 2009.

Acqua Mirabile Odorosa di Firenze is the full title I have. This is a lovely sort of scent. Though it is a bit more floral than is my usual preference, it is neither sweet nor heavy. I don’t think the green notes are *very* green, they fill in the spaces around the two floral notes, iris and honeysuckle. Iris is the emblem of Renaissance-era Florence so it an appropriate element in this signature fragrance. Here the violet-like qualities of iris root convey the fresh and transparent aspects noted by many. Honeysuckle gives a warm, rich quality, suggesting to me jasmine with a hint of vanilla. I find this to be pleasant, but I’m not wowed by it.

2nd May, 2008.

I've smelled and tested an awful lot of fragrances, and Acqua di Firenze made me sit up and take notice—not because of outstanding dramatic accords, but because it is such a unique and sensitive take on light floral accords. It is beautifully transparent and sensitive and clean. It is refreshing and basically floral, but the florals do not send out a strong floral ambiance. The light florals—iris, and honeysuckle—are peppered by some strange but very pleasant green notes. The entire movement of the fragrance is light, transparent, clean without citrus, aquatics, ozonics or any other of the ordinary standbys in the light fragrance arsenal. Thoroughly interesting, pleasant, and fresh, it is surprisingly unisex. The longevity is not great, but it is better than I had been expecting.

18th January, 2007.