Bergamotto di Calabria Acqua di Parma 2010

"You're going to Calabria? Don't forget the lemons!"
So one might advise anyone loosely based on Friedrich Nietzsche's "Also sprach Zarathustra" who is planning a trip to southern Italy. Whether the flight goes to Naples on the Amalfi Coast, to Lamezia Therme in Calabria or to Catania in Sicily, a standard lemon from a German discount grocery store should always be carried by every traveler to these regions.
Why? To have comparison possibilities.
Because such a thing, which one gets to buy with us, one will get there rather not to eyes. I advise to visit local markets. Or take a trip in a rental car over the country and then stop on narrow country roads to see what small farmers are growing on their fields. You've never seen anything like it, you can't even put a name to it. Size, colors, smells, flavors, structures of the peels, everything. And our discount lemons will be bought afterwards only out of pure embarrassment. Is so.

I do celebrate Acqua di Parma. The cylindrical cardboard boxes in which the flacons rest in the shape of a solid truncated cone, with their rich colours and solid knobs. This shows quality consciousness, the glued-on labels with the typical letters reflect timeless Italian design. Visually alone, an ornament for any perfume collection.

With the first spray envelope one immediately several fresh citrus aromas. Sour, bitter and also sweet, but it remains at first rather with the lemon than with the bergamot or lime. The green and tart notes only gradually come to the fore, giving the fragrance depth. A variety of aromas comes to the fore, which one would not believe in the disdainful little citrus fruits from our discounters. But the fruits of southern Italy have so much more to offer than just sourness; a wide variety of green nuances and bitter nuances come to the fore. With loss of the sweetish-fruity aromas, the fragrance unfortunately flattens out a bit, since also the smoky and woody notes hardly help.

Depending on the temperature and especially humidity, the scent develops sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Especially in sultry weather, the scent seems to me literally flow from the skin. This is unfortunately the weak point of this fragrance: He remains apart from the freshness prelude rather close to the body, so a very intimate fragrance and the shelf life is also very short with only one to three hours in some cases. Since the top notes outshine the heart and base notes by far, you can add the fragrance at any time, nothing gets caught, nothing interferes. And you have to put unfortunately, you want to come through the day unscathed.

"Bergamotto di Calabria" is a fragrance that does without floral aromas, so it is very clear and unisex, for everyone always and everywhere very well wearable. I layer this fragrance also very happy about other Acqua di Parma fragrances over, for example, I give the very woody "Colonia Quercia" an additional freshness kick, without what gets in the way. Yummy!

Compare "Bergamotto di Calabria" with other citrus fragrances. The qualitative differences in the flavors should speak for themselves. Would not there be the shelf life. Much too short. Like every holiday in Italy, actually. One hands me a Granita or an iced Limoncello!