Unum

Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto 2017

Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto by Filippo Sorcinelli
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7.7 / 10 185 Ratings
A popular perfume by Filippo Sorcinelli for women and men, released in 2017. The scent is spicy-resinous. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Alter Duo.
Pronunciation
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Main accords

Spicy
Resinous
Smoky
Woody
Floral

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
MyrrhMyrrh GalbanumGalbanum BergamotBergamot PetitgrainPetitgrain
Heart Notes Heart Notes
Cinnamon leafCinnamon leaf Clary sageClary sage StyraxStyrax CedarwoodCedarwood GeraniumGeranium Ylang-ylangYlang-ylang
Base Notes Base Notes
AmberAmber FrankincenseFrankincense TobaccoTobacco BenzoinBenzoin Tonka beanTonka bean SandalwoodSandalwood
Ratings
Scent
7.7185 Ratings
Longevity
8.3163 Ratings
Sillage
7.8166 Ratings
Bottle
8.0157 Ratings
Value for money
6.764 Ratings
Submitted by Michael, last update on 11/23/2024.
Interesting Facts
The fragrance is part of the "Unum" collection.

Smells similar

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Reviews

10 in-depth fragrance descriptions
10
Pricing
10
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
10
Scent
EnCuirNoir

6 Reviews
EnCuirNoir
EnCuirNoir
Helpful Review 2  
Balad of unforgotten dreams
Smells like asexuality, inability to be loved, lonliness, regret and very very old things long expired & made of unattractive old withered trees.

I have no hands
that caress my face,

(heavy is the weight
of these words
that know no love)

I don't know the sweet pleasure
of abandoning you

I had to be
the guardian
of your loneliness

Me,
the savior
of lost hours.

A poem that this perfume has borrowed its first sentence; And shares its soul with. The presentation too, is taken from Mario Giacomelli's project with the same name and concept (also inspired by the same cold and catching poem). Those pictures to me act as a prequel to the poem, and share the vibe with the perfumes opening hours of warm denial in a cold emptiness that will inevitably catch up.

Review:
I initially had wrote a review explaining notes and their progression hour by hour, but how pointless is that for such a parfum which is more art than fashion and more melancholia than art. Beyond the notes listed here, which are accurately listed and are shed layer at a time, great pyramid and accurate votes, you will exactly get the dominant votes of each layer in with your first inhale an spicy (cinnamon) punch of incense and myrrh, half the sweetness of the full-bodied myrrh leaves and the almost edible Christmas treat gets into an spanish leather accord with now more dominant styrax added to the cinnamon and the omnipresent Incense, it's an spanish leather, an old withered one without any fat or musk left in, and finally it gets hardcore on the Incense and it's not a one dimensional one, with a divine touch of myrrh... The scent reminds me of very old home libraries, soaked old Spanish leather, wet carpet, expired church Incense and even beyond all the resembling scents it evokes certain feelings of being outdated, forgotten and alone in the modern world. It should be exprienced and it will ruin your shiny smile, darken your bright day and put you in the shoes of a manifestation of all that's been lonely.

To whom do I recommend? If you like perfumery and scents as an art, try this, doesn't matter if you'll like to wear it or not, you'll enjoy its haunting journey, if you like the idea of a sad Kouros, damp woodies, old books, old damp Spanish leathers, church Incense, smokes this is for you, if you enjoy a little grief or the thought of death comforts you here's a cold dark welcome, eerie and melancholic, it's also a great parfum to layer and add smokiness. If you don't like Lars von Trier features, can't stand Schubert and are looking for sth to smell attractive stay away you're probably not ready. The sweetness isn't cute, the spices aren't playful, the Incense isn't passionate, the leather not kinky.

It lasts a very long time (at least 10, probably 12+) and projects almost too much for first 3 hours (1 spray) and stays noticeable for many more after that. The transition starts with losing top notes and showing warmth of middle notes before presenting her full beauty with the undeniable darkness of base notes. Again a well done pyramid to represent the scent accurately. After many wearings I see a damp smoky Incense and cedar throughout as the main star which gets darker and less sweet and I love it more every passing hour.
0 Comments
Vince1997

15 Reviews
Vince1997
Vince1997
1  
Into the Giacomelli`s world
Please note that this represent only my opinion.
This beauty opens with a fizzy glow of crackling petitgrain and bergamot, which lifts up to reveal the heart: a breathtaking wall of scent, flawlessly blended cedar with spice, like cinnamon, and clary sage, ylang ylang, and resins. The drydown evokes what we imagine the seminary could have been, its stone walled building resonating with sandalwood, rituals cloaked in incense and benzoin, and the warm puff of tobacco. It transports you into Giacomelli’s photographs of the clergymen smoking cigars, when the rector saw these images, it was the last straw, and Giacomelli was prevented from ever photographing at the seminary again.
In other words, i see it suitable for a cold weather, maybe in autumn, so he can shows his performances.
0 Comments
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
9
Longevity
10
Scent
Floyd

324 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Floyd
Floyd
Top Review 46  
A temple for spiritual beings
In the loud glow of the blazing cold
i stare at billowing clouds of ice-green smoke, streaming backwards into a magical myrrh, strangely drawn in by the knotty branches that twist and turn like hundreds of hands in all directions of the vast desert. In the rumbling thunderstorm, blinded by lightning flashes of bitter-green citrus peel, the highly flickering bitter-sweet sage, in the cloudy mist of a firework of dark-sand cinnamon leaves, I pause admiring the tree as it spicily warms the frosty clouds, rooted in the earthy smoke of yellow-brown galbanum. Like the beginning of a happy frenzy, the scent of the smoke hits me in my stomach and sends me on a

Ride on the incense stick
into transfigured memories, washed-out time, matted shaggies full of curd soap, knotted by a girl who smells like Nag Champa. I see them dancing in sandalwood, in flowing colours of sweet flowers, bursting into vanilla resins, not moving on for many hours. I ride the smoke through walls of warm Washburn guitars, which in shimmering feedback, far out in the room, leave wonderfully soft waves in the hypnotic reverb. Sometimes I think that the scent of forest floor can be seen in it, only to immediately hide again in the slowly approaching veil of mist of warm incense.

Tobacco Tantra
When I notice that my incense is riding on the soft waves in the hall, only fine threads are pulling towards me, I find myself under a light brown shimmering roof made of spicy tobacco leaf, sweating little golden pearls of medically sweet benzoes. Quietly meandering mantras on a harmonium made of tonka, the evening amber veins shimmer like honey into the tobacco awning, even after eleven hours still, soft as the distant threads of smoke.
**
A temple for spiritual beings, full of bright images, shimmering colours, ritual smoke and buzzing sitar. A fragrance which, because of its bulky cool top note and the smoky hippieesque heart of sandalwood, sweet blossoms and resins, would not open itself to me at first attempt, but whose echo never let go of me and which, months later and enriched by many scent experiences, was able to convince me absolutely.

(With thanks to Mermaid and Can777)
31 Comments
6
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
Stanze

101 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Stanze
Stanze
Top Review 22  
Giacomelli and Turoldo with hand and foot in the stable
It has been many years since a pianist told me about a Hungarian colleague who brought Hungarian songs and creatures closer to him, including an alleged Christmas carol in which the lines "Jesus brought me shoes, but I have no feet" appeared. Since I had lived with a Hungarian for a while in a flat-sharing community and had read some books by Hungarian authors (in German translation), the existence of such a depressive Hungarian Christmas song seems quite possible to me. The poem by David Maria Turoldo "I have no hands to caress my face" reminds me of these perhaps existing song lines Because you can also stroke your own face. Why can't Mr. Turoldo do that? I'm sure Turoldo had hands. I'm just a very pragmatic person.

Giacomelli probably wanted to express something completely different. Claudio Righetti, who knew Giacomelli, reported in the Thuner Tagblatt (what I read): "Giacomelli liked to flirt for life. But I was surprised at how many places, mostly small villages between Milano and Senigallia, he had lost his heart to a beautiful woman." It was probably a miracle for Giacomelli that the young priests from the photo series "Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto", despite their abstinence, laughed, danced and were happy. No woman caresses their faces, but the young priests are full of childlike enthusiasm. Cherchez la femme.

The blowing cassocks in Giacomelli's photos are reminiscent of the lid of the perfume. Giacomelli gave the priests cigars and they smoked. The tobacco note in Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto is very present after a while. Incense and myrrh recall the prayers of the priests. I find the incense quite strong already at the beginning. Yes, cinnamon is also in it.

Unfortunately Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto smells a bit like a stable in the middle part (?). How am I supposed to interpret that now? That makes it difficult for me to wear the perfume. In the base this stable note decreases. Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto would certainly not be suitable for my work, where I have to be master Proper personally. I would have given only 7.5 points but familiärer Tester M was totally thrilled. People who haven't worked in the stable that often probably don't mind the stable note at all. Or men like the perfume on women with pleasure (man looks for farmer's wife), which would have pleased Giacomelli then certainly. And so the circle closes.
16 Comments
7
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
ElAttarine

55 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
ElAttarine
ElAttarine
Top Review 26  
Freedom, decision, infinity
Sometimes I have to choose happiness. However, the contradiction between freedom and finiteness can also lead to despair. Especially when it comes to decisions in the sense of determinations that reach far into the future and will determine my life... Some things almost call to us, are the goal of our longing... And yet there can be doubts about the finality of the decision. Or doubts about choosing one of the infinite possibilities and thus ending infinity. Will I be able to stand by it? A love affair is to be legally registered as a marriage... A contract is to be signed as binding... I am leaving certain life possibilities behind me for good... Joy, promise, despair and fear can lie painfully close together.
-----
Is my decision the right one? Which freedoms am I giving up? For me, this Unum revolves around such fundamental existential questions. The fragrance is confusing, strange, full of promise and longing, intimidating and fragile at the same time. For me, the bulky, cool, bitter-citrusy opening note combines very directly with dark, very bitter and at the same time cinnamony myrrh. However, the cinnamon and myrrh do not make the whole thing warm at all, but rather add a really cool galbanum. Galbanum is sometimes described as warm, but I find it quite different here (similar to my beloved Nuit de Bakélite ). The result is a green-metallic-cool-marzipan impression. Subsequently, it becomes slightly woody (cedar and sandal), I perceive cold incense, only slightly sacred or abandoned-sacred, as if the altar candles and the incense had been extinguished a long time ago. In my mind's eye, the last living breath condenses as salty tears on the cold church walls, and at the same time there is a certain cool floweriness and sweetness - is it the sweetness of renunciation?
I have no idea.
-----
Sorcinelli's homepage states that this is not about spirituality in the religious sense, which would initially seem obvious with Sorcinelli, but rather about the spirit. In this sense, spirit means something fundamentally unlimited in every human being that transcends all boundaries, that part of us that cannot be touched with our hands. In the sense that it can never be grasped, captured or limited.
Free and infinite!

And Sorcinelli refers to Mario Giacomelli, a world-class photographer who portrayed young priests in the photo series "Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto" in the early 1960s. This title (of the photo series and the perfume) quotes the poem by the priest David Maria Turoldo "I have/It has no hands to caress my face" from 1948, which is also included in the book and describes the hardships and loneliness of priests who have chosen celibacy. (The complete poem has been reproduced here before.)
You can see the book with the photos and the poem here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1W5_kZqaiA

It is very, very, very touching for me - how these men, still so young, are enjoying themselves in their priest's clothing, playing ball, relaxing in the garden, romping in the snow, smoking, dancing... And as a viewer of the photos, I know at the same time that they will often be lonely in their lives because of their renunciation... This contrast is heartbreaking. I could cry.
And despite this existential depth that the fragrance evokes, it is suitable for me to wear (at least on some days). It is a phenomenon that always transcends itself.

Thanks to @Can777 for the bottling!
39 Comments
More reviews

Statements

3 short views on the fragrance
FrankcrummitFrankcrummit 9 months ago
Potent and poetic ; the olfactory equivalent of Giacomelli's images, lingering in the memory with dramatic, melancholy power.
0 Comments
SaradoninSaradonin 1 year ago
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
7
Scent
Shocking industrial opening: cinnamon blast, machine grease, burning solvent. Dries down to more human side with geranium, tobacco, vanilla.
0 Comments
HajuvanaHajuvana 8 years ago
6
Bottle
10
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
Tiger Balm and cigarette ashes on late 1970s style aromatic fougère body.
Absolutely frightening projection. So what's not to like?
0 Comments

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Images

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