A Summer in Venezia

Venice is a city of ancient beauty but unless you have visited it during the summer, you will never know its smell. The wet rot of the canals mixes with the pungent exhaust of the vaporetto fumes to create a suffocating mixture of fetid, hot air.

This air permeates every moment of the day and as the heat increases, so does the will to survive. Nothing pleasant can be said of Venice's air quality but thankfully, other wonders eclipse this inconvenience.

A simple visitor is immediately thrown by the lack of streets. However, this fact allows for sound to travel wonderfully through the city. Especially at night when there is no traffic, the small canals and "alleys" are a soothing mixture of silence and lapping water lulling you to sleep.

In fact, I had the best sleep of my life in the large sunken bed of my ancient hotel suite. The window was open all night and the swishing water was a lullaby.

Venice is a city where the imagination plays a bigger part than reality. Therefore, when I came back home and came across an old perfume from the 90s called Venezia, I wondered how it could possibly capture the smell of the place. The answer is, of course, is that it does not try to. The perfume recreates a fantastical place of intrigue and intermixed cultures.

Laura Biagiotti's Venezia opens with the smell of wine. I am transported to a masquerade ball where the heady aroma of white flowers and spices mingles with the sweat of desire. Venezia continues with spice and a languorous sweetness. The drydown is a bit of vanilla and candied fruit. It smells just like my favorite Venetian ice cream, Venise. It has swirls of dark chocolate with candied fruit pieces on top.

(photo via tripadvisor.com)

Venezia has captured my heart and become one of my favorite perfumes of all time. It is discontinued in its original formulation but I bought a mini on ebay to capture as much as I could of this exquisite fragrance.

(photo via thenonblonde)

There is a new version which has been reformulated. I have not tried it yet but it is in the mail, so I will compare the original and the new version shortly.

(photo of the new Venezia via mimifroufrou)