Perfumes

Perfume, a pleasure known since the dawn of time; it was the ancient Egyptians who invented the first aromas that were used during religious rites and sacred ceremonies, a habit later inherited by the Greeks and Romans; the latter became masters of distillation and perfected the use of glass containers for conservation. The advent of the Arabs during the medieval period was a real revolution for perfume thanks to the invention of the alembic and the introduction of alcohol instead of oily bases. The Crusades allowed commercial exchanges with the East and the essences thus returned to appear in Western culture, Venice became an intense crossroads and apothecary shops that distilled perfumes for rich ladies and gentlemen of the court multiplied immeasurably. During the Renaissance we witnessed the rediscovery of classical culture and the birth of chemistry greatly perfected the preparation of aromas, the most prolific land in this period was certainly France.

With the discovery of the Americas and the new routes to the Indies, spices and aromas were enriched, thus giving the opportunity for new experiments; perfume became a fashion and an indispensable property in everyday life. Grasse in the already mentioned France became the most important center for the production of aromas counting on the support of Queen Marie Antoinette who preferred fresh perfumes as opposed to the drier and more decisive ones that had dictated the fashion in the previous centuries.

Even Italy and Germany, famous for the eau de cologne, were lands renowned for perfumery even when during the French revolution this suffered an inevitable setback in its motherland. Years later Rimmel with its product line and Guerlain with its classification made real revolutions that have reached the present day. Chemistry made great strides and synthesizing opened up new paths hitherto unknown, opening up the 1900s to its iconic figures that we can still appreciate today.