AN IDYLLIC STROLL IN THE LUSH
PALLADIAN GARDENS OF VENETO
The Palladian gardens of the Veneto in Venice is a breathtaking landscape that intersperses classical architecture throughout the bucolic gardens. Inspired by the varied trees, herbs, fruits and flowers surrounding the Palladian villas, Bottega Veneta creative director Tomas Maier created an ultra-luxury and exclusive collection of impressionistic fragrances called Parco Palladiano.
The Palladian villas of the Veneto were designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in the 16th century and they are located in north-eastern Italy, where the House of Bottega Veneta was founded in 1966. It’s no surprise, therefore, why Tomas Maier felt an instant reconnection when he took the helm at Bottega Veneta in 2001. “Palladio is a source of endless inspiration for me in many ways,” says Maier. “My father was an architect who studied the work of Palladio, so his teachings have always been part of my life even before I started as creative director at Bottega Veneta. Palladio was an artisan as well as an architect who sought balance and harmony in everything. The Palladian gardens that inspire this Parco Palladiano collection represent a perfection on earth and an agricultural utopia.”
To create the scents, Maier invited a handful of renowned perfumers: Michel Almairac (who created Bottega Veneta’s debut eponymous women’s fragrance), Daniela Andrier (who worked on the house’s first men’s fragrances, Pour Homme and Pour Homme Extrême) and Alexis Dadier. “It’s a little bit like inviting painters into your garden and saying, ‘Find the plant that inspires you and paint it,’ but in an olfactive way,” said Michel Almairac, a nose who has worked with the house for the past five years, and who developed two of the six chosen formulas. “It left a lot open to personal interpretation, but it’s what I like,” said Maier.
Each scent of the Parco Palladiano Collection is an “olfactory trompe l’oeil”, capturing different moments and experiences in a Palladian garden.
After two years of work, a striking line of 9 unisex perfumes is available to suit your nose, mood, or, simply, the time of day during which you wear it.
The Parco Palladiano Collection goes to the very heart of Bottega Veneta, and its deep roots among the traditions and beauty of the Veneto region. True to the Italian luxury house’s brand of quiet luxury, the fragrances are simply numbered I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX, – a move that is also a nod to the classical heritage of the Palladian villas.