dario.bergamotin History, Bottles & Houses · London ·
DiscoveryFarina, an Italian making cologne in Cologne
My grandfather grew bergamot near Reggio and always said cologne was an Italian idea. I checked: the encyclopedia entry on eau de Cologne says it was created in 1709 in Cologne by an Italian perfumer, Giovanni Maria Farina, as a light citrus scent in diluted alcohol. Nonno was right, for once.
4 comments
frankie.incense
That same entry says 'cologne' is now a generic term, most often for men's fragrances in American English, which definately explains every aftershave aisle in Chicago [none of them from Cologne].
ambrose_leather
Right then, an Italian in Germany making the thing every lad in England calls cologne. Would have made a good pub quiz question. Cheers, Ambrose
maeve.moss
My mother kept a bottle of plain cologne in the fridge every summer and the kitchen smelled of lemons when she opened it and none of us ever asked where it came from. The bergamot page, on Calabria's citrus at the heart of eau de Cologne would have been news to her.
dario.bergamot
Calabria on the page, good. My grandfather would have printed it and framed it.