Acqua di Parma’s CEO on the Italian art of living
Few brands feel as quintessentially Italian as Acqua di Parma. Its sunshine-yellow boxes always make me smile when I spot them at Duty Free on work trips, and I often pick up a bottle as a special gift for my dearest friends.
So I was fascinated to hear a podcast interview with the brand’s CEO, Giulio Bergamaschi, talking about how Acqua di Parma has endured for more than a century.
He made an interesting observation about the contrast between French luxury, often associated with opulence, and Italian luxury, rooted in the concept of Bello e Ben Fatto: beauty exquisitely crafted by artisans.
He explained how this lineage reaches back to Renaissance humanism, where makers were encouraged not just to perfect technique, but to take a creative “step aside” and add something of themselves.
He also told a wonderful story about how Acqua di Parma’s Colonia fragrance became famous in the 1950s and ’60s, when Rome’s Cinecittà studios hosted big Hollywood productions and iconic films like Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita’.
Film stars and VIPs had their suits made in Italy, and their tailors would give each finished suit a final spritz of Colonia. The stars took this little piece of Italy home with them, helping the fragrance’s fame spread worldwide.
Bergamaschi regards Acqua di Parma as an expression of the Italian Arte de Vivre (art of living). A core element of this is mindfulness: finding the beauty in every day and bringing value to every day of your life through your actions, rituals, and gestures. I couldn’t agree more!