Over a century later, Acqua di Parma remains the cologne of choice for the true gentleman
The scent of an Italian holiday
By 
IN 1916, Baron Carlo Magnani created a fragrance in Parma that was, if we can be completely blunt, a rebuke. The perfumery of the era was very French and very opulent. Powdery, with an olfactive megaphone. Magnani decided he wanted something that was a little less fortissimo and more mezzo piano. Thus Colonia was born, a creature of citrus, bergamot, lemon. Luminous and open, built for the skin but still radiated, gently, outward. Initially made as a fragrance for himself, he quickly discovered it was a hit amongst his peers and he was gifting bottles to a small circle of like-minded souls.
One hundred and ten years later, that original gesture has compounded into one of the most recognisable fragrance houses in the world. Carrying the coat of arms of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma – Napoleon’s second wife – on every bottle, Acqua di Parma has grown from that single Eau de Cologne into a full expression of Italian living. The Colonia family now includes candles, room diffusers, bath and body products. That aromatic luminosity Magnani built into Colonia has evolved into a lifestyle marker of Italian ease, dispersed into spaces and rituals. Like smelling sunshine in the air.
Giulio Bergamaschi, the brand’s CEO since March 2023, is very clear about the philosophy that underpins it all. He arrived at Acqua di Parma from Loro Piana, by way of 18 years at L’Oréal Group across Italy, France and China – a combination of mass market rigour and obsessive luxury craft that gave him a particularly clear view of what the brand actually was. “Excellence does not need to be showy,” he tells Esquire. “It reveals itself in everyday life, through presence and intention.”
That sensibility is at the centre of the anniversary release, Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato, a limited edition fragrance built around a key ingredient: the 2024 harvest of Ylang-Ylang from Nosy Be, the Madagascan island whose tropical climate produces flowers of particular depth.
Acqua di Parma Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato
That importance of this year brought a convergence of abundant rainfall and gentle warmth that allowed the flowers to develop what Bergamaschi describes as unusual radiance and complexity. Distilled over 24 hours and delicately fractionated, the harvest was identified by perfumer Alexis Dadier as something worth anchoring an anniversary edition to. The result pushes Colonia’s characteristic citrus brightness into a softer, more floral accord, with a warmth in the base – patchouli, vetiver – that gives the composition density without obscuring its essential character. The limited edition bottle comes in Acqua di Parma’s iconic yellow hatbox, marked with a golden stamp commemorating both the harvest year and the 110th anniversary.
“When we reinterpret Colonia, we return to its origin,” says Bergamaschi. “The question is never how do we make it new, but does this remain faithful to that spirit of vibrancy, light and intention.”
The anniversary has also produced something genuinely unprecedented for a house that has operated for 110 years without a public face: an ambassador. Michael Fassbender, paired with Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, fronts the brand’s The Art of Living Italian campaign, shot in Parma. The casting, like most things Acqua di Parma does, was considered carefully. “Michael embodies sprezzatura,” says Bergamaschi. “He does not perform discreet elegance; he inhabits it.”
It is, in the end, the same quality Magnani was reaching for in 1916. “The creative heart of Acqua di Parma,” says Bergamaschi, “is the ability to reveal the exceptional within everyday simplicity.”
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