“I want to stay then [...]. Where would it be better?”
By the canal and in the lagoon, it smells of water everywhere, sometimes salty, sometimes swampy; at the Lido, it scents of the sea, sometimes windy and splashy, sometimes rather foggy and gloomy. But the water is always present. I had already described it in my Venice blog: Early in the morning, I take the Vaporetto on the Canale Grande to the Lido, and almost no one but me is on the boat... such a wonderful morning atmosphere... at the Lido, large hedges of blooming honeysuckle, ivy, and blooming jasmine release their fragrance into the morning. On other days, I take the gondola ferry near my apartment across the canal to buy vegetables and fruits directly on the other side: juicy cucumbers, very small artichokes, bitter aromatic oranges, radicchio, herbs... Recently, I visited Venice for the first time and was so deeply touched and thrilled by this city, more than I ever expected. I have traveled a lot, but I have never lost my heart in a place so quickly!
“The atmosphere of the city, this slightly rotten smell of sea and swamp [...] - he breathed it now in deep, tenderly painful breaths. Was it possible that he did not know, had not considered how much his heart was attached to all of this? [...] the evening was also delightful when the plants in the park smelled balsamic, the stars above danced their round, and the murmuring of the darkened sea, quietly rising, spoke to the soul.”
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So this fragrance also speaks to my soul and is for me an anchor of memory for this city that I have only now learned to love so deeply. The opening immediately brings me the maritime notes, but not at all classically “aquatic,” rather like salty seawater and brackish canal water at the same time. And I have a very clear impression of green fig, although it is not listed here - but fortunately neither fruity nor creamy, rather a mix of damp, green, fresh, and sultry at the same time. To orange blossom and ivy - just like at the Lido! - the immortelle gradually adds itself. How I love this fragrance, so wistfully! It transports for me so intensely the memory of past beauty that I want to cry. This phase lasts a long time for me before a soft musk base joins in. Opoponax is not sweet here, but very delicately animalic-woody. I hardly perceive patchouli here, it only adds a bit of depth. Wonderfully composed by Michele Marin (who is also responsible for the beautiful fragrances Cacao Ritual and Animal Café from Extra Virgo).
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In Thomas Mann's story “Death in Venice,” the aging writer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice, absorbs the morbid aura of the city, and falls passionately in love with the sight of the 14-year-old blonde Tadzio. Tadzio represents youth and everything that the extremely duty-conscious and controlled Aschenbach had denied himself throughout his life: desire, play, excitement, vibrations, tension, devotion... “to see how the living figure, boyishly beautiful and austere, with dripping curls and beautiful as a god, emerged from the depths of heaven and sea, rising from the elements: this sight gave mythological ideas, it was like poetic knowledge from ancient times, from the origin of form and from the birth of the gods.” For the first time in his life, Aschenbach's art, writing, and love are connected when he wants to describe Tadzio - but this sweet connection becomes the condition of his downfall. Aschenbach does not survive; in the end, he dies of cholera while lying on the beach in a state of emotional ecstasy, watching Tadzio, who seems to wave to him from afar and points out into the “Promising-Uncanny. And as so often, he set out to follow him.”
But fortunately, this fragrance is not called Gustav, but Tadzio. And it will always remind me of Venice... Freely translated from the Gini homepage: Total devotion is the goal. Footprints reflecting in the sun are the only memory.
With great thanks to Can777 for the sample and the Venice memory!
(All quotes from Thomas Mann: Death in Venice.)
Top Notes 
Ivy
Cucumber
Lime
Orange
Heart Notes 
Marine notes
Orange blossom
Blackcurrant
Base Notes 
Musk
Immortelle
Opoponax
Patchouli
Emorandeira
Yatagan
Can777
Seejungfrau
Chizza
Caligari
Profumo
BelaKiss
MichH
PallasCC
