For a long time, I clung to the translation of the name as "A Walk in Venice." Because "Ballade à Venise" reminds me more of "una dolce canzone" than of "una passeggiata." I also considered the route of "ballare - to dance"; but it just wouldn’t fit. Stubborn as I am, I finally found the solution at LEO: a "walk" is regionally called "balade" in French too!
So I happily landed on the musical Venice - how beautiful! For me, this slightly old-fashioned scent is like a melody wafting through the city. A melody that is not quite sure whether it prefers to sound like a ballad or a serenade, or whether it wants to be belted out more loudly than beautifully by a gondolier. So again: "La Donna è mobile - e la Musica anche così"!
Marigold and orange blossom - which exceedingly agile spirit came up with that? The somewhat bitter calendula with its strong healing power and the heart-warming orange blossom, which lovingly caresses the soul: they complement each other wonderfully here. Not even the slightly synthetic mandarin can change that. Here it is quite fitting, as it provides this protective, embracing fragrance structure with a certain freshness and pleasantly enlivens the introduction to "Ballade à Venise." For the allure of the South now beckons fully and yet quite opulently: passion fruit - just as surprising as the marigold before - meets heavy, white-flowering jasmine, which has been captured here in all its evening fragrance fullness. Olive blossom: these fragile white stars that later cling everywhere to the balcony floor and refuse to be swept away possess a very unique, quite delicate aroma that, like all white flowers, truly gains beauty and expression in the evening hours. It took me a long time to identify this light honey- or syrup-like hint on my evening balcony: it was the blooming olive that made itself known! "Ballade à Venise" would not be named after this city, which sometimes seems to float just above the water, if Ylang-Ylang did not set its radiant accents. Here, this glow enchants me particularly: for it forms a bridge to the resinous spiciness of galbanum, which seems completely sufficient as a base in this fragrance composition. The fruity-sweetness and the opulence of the flowers, combined with the radiant, slightly uplifting Ylang-Ylang, require this resinous spice for "grounding." Or as a kind of trellis that provides support for all the other fragrance components.
Thus, Roberto Capucci has combined solid yet imaginative craftsmanship, which can still be found in Venice, with feminine elegance and typical Italian flair. The result is a fragrance of romance that somewhat reminds me of the good old album pictures we used to collect and stick into the poetry albums of our friends with more or less meaningful sayings.
The longevity of "Ballade à Venise" on me is quite good; this fragrance accompanies me for several hours, during which surprisingly the marigold flashes again at the end, cuddling closely to the galbanum. That is a bit foreign, but exceedingly charming!
Those looking for the decadence of the city of Venice in "Ballade à Venise" will be disappointed. This fragrance carries the music of this city within it. Now and then, despite all its elegance and femininity, it feels light and exuberant: perhaps the title does indeed come from "ballare - to dance"? It is definitely worth listening to this fragrance composition!
Absolutely! Sweet marigold balm with a hint of bitter galbanum! I've easily gone through 20 bottles of this :-D and collected all the (available) leftovers; it's such a shame that it's no longer available!
I'll leave a trophy right here; we don't need to carry it along.