Casamorati - Italica XerJoff 2016

So many comments and statements (!) have come in about this fragrance. I have the feeling, especially with Gourmands, that I can't get a good picture based on reviews - toffee or almond or chocolate get such a different scent impression depending on how the composition is interwoven. Toffee or caramel in Candy by Prada cannot be compared with the caramel sweetness in Omnia Profumis Madera, for example. I find the former almost daring due to the Prada iris, the latter has a certain spiciness. Nevertheless, both are gourmands and "sweet". And with Italica in particular, the scent impressions "sweet", "super sweet" and "unacceptably sweet" put even gourmand fans off at first. I really like Italica and for me it is very similar to Madera. There's one thing I wouldn't have guessed from most of the comments: I find Italica to be an extremely serious fragrance. The toffee note lacks any childish lightness, sweetened milk, yes, definitely there, but in the cooking pot of the well-heeled lady of a dark-wooded mansion in the Carpathians. Not in a candy store. The slightly pungent fragrance impression, which some people dislike for being bitingly sweet, is - in my opinion - not due to the almondy sweetness, but to the saffron. You have to like that, I actually have my problems with saffron and that is also the reason why Italica would not get a 10/10 in my personal opinion and ranking - the fragrance impression is very closed and dense, but unfortunately many "milk fragrances" have the characteristic that they appear somewhat viscous when they lack lighter components. The color and opacity of the bottle fits perfectly with the adult, serious and outwardly distancing fragrance that is hidden inside and speaks of a certain reminiscent melancholy.