Bell'Antonio (2008)
by Hilde Soliani Profumi

Hilde Soliani Bell'Antonio

Back in the 70's when I would go out dancing the clubs would close at 4AM in S. Florida. Of course we wouldn't be ready to go home and there was an all-night diner named Lester's not too far from the clubs in Ft. Lauderdale. We would come strolling in and I would always love the smell of Lester's at that time of the morning. I would walk in and smell the multitude of coffee pots on their hot plates and, in those days before non-smoking sections existed, the smell of cigarettes being lit. This was what pre-dawn smelled like in the 70's. In 2008 the artisan perfumer Hilde Solianai created Bell'Antonio for her "Teatro Olfattivo di Parma" line. Bell'Antonio was meant to evoke the smell of her father Antonio and his mix of coffee and cigarettes. One of the great things about the plethora of artisanal perfumers out there like Sig.ra. Soliani is that she can make simple scents focusing on a couple of notes like coffee and cigarettes and do it magnificently because her only focus group is her own nose. The top of Bell'Antonio is the promised tobacco but it is the unsmoked tobacco. The leafy slightly sweet version of tobacco, then the tobacco turns into the smell of a cigarette after being lit as there is a smoke accord that carries into the base of brewed coffee. The coffee accord in the base is that of a pot that has been left on the hot plate just a little too long as it smells a tiny bit charred but still rich. The coffee accord also carries a little more acidity to it than other richer ones in scents like A*Men Pure Coffee or Jo Malone Black Vetyver Cafe. This coffee accord is the smell of a cup of coffee at 4:30 in the morning. Sig.ra. Soliani has created a close wearing realistic piece of perfumery which can transport one to an Italian Coffee Shop or as it does in my mind to 4:30 AM at Lester's somewhere in the 70's.

A very simple scent, though its simplicity is its strength rather than a weakness. No fruits or florals or powders, just tobacco smoke and a dark roasted, almost charred, coffee note.

I'm not sure why it's classified as a feminine fragrance here on Base Notes -- it's unisex at best, and would likely be considered too-masculine by a lot of women. I've heard people describe it as smelling like their grandfathers, and I have to admit that it does remind me quite a bit of how my own grandfather smelled -- smoke, ash and burnt coffee.

Despite trending somewhat dark, it's not heavy and/or overdone, and won't overpower a room when you walk in.