Frescoamaro
Profumi del Forte (2012)

Frescoamaro means “fresh and sour” in Italian, and it is indeed a fresh and sour scent – or better say, more precisely; fresh and salty-camphoraceous. I smell a head accord of white flowers, citrus, then down to green notes, some melonal kind of synthetic fruits (stuff like [insert a crap fruity designer scent of the 2000s]), something ozonic coming and going, cedar, slightly mossy-earthy notes, a hint of vanilla. And underneath all of this, a persistent and quite bold salty-humid feel with a metallic aftertaste, something like sweaty skin. Not sure if that is due to “white-grey” musks or what. Overall Frescoamaro is not bad, though: it's a discreet scent which smells like dozens of mainstream scents playing the same “citrus-woody-aquatic” card. Without praise or blame.

5,5-6/10

A first touch on my skin and my flashback is for the classic and marvellous Nino Cerruti by Cerruti (but with a more citrus/grass/fruity presence in here and a less floral welcome i suppose). It is just an illusion (i notice by soon) anyway since Nino Cerruti is a far more complex and elevated concoction (and finally the olfactory resemblance is probably much more with 1881 than with NC Classic). Frescoamaro means fresh and bitter all at once and effectively i have to say that freshness and sourness ( i would not properly talk about bitterness) are lingering throughout in the blend (which anyway plays also in different ways a longly present game of contrasts). The first approach is indeed deeply indolic and undisputably stressed over the melon/grapefruit/cucumber/citrus side in a way being at once weirdly sharp but paradoxically at once mostly dense on a fruity/vegetal path, almost sour and "fat" at the same time (i write "fat" to mean nearly edible and musky/fleshy) as for a carnal/botanical game of contrasts. The cucumber/aromatic-minty herbs/floral leaves chord provides en incredibly vegetal aura around indeed while the note of gin enhances a "melancholic" and alcoholic (grassy, mossy, fruity/floral and in a while even woody) intensity. The violet presence is easily notable and provides a typical lymphatic floral/grassy/earthy moody sharpness to the whole composition which has turned out in the meanwhile even more "meaty" and juicy. The muskiness (a mossy and coniferous aroma from the forest) in the meanwhile keeps to rise up from the back and to impose itself as a succeeding main theme supporting the final floral rose/osmanthus (almost neutral) wave in the air. This floral evolution is not particularly discernible or luxurious and do not provide a particularly sophisticated floral spark in the air to adorn the linear mossy woodiness. The dry down pushes indeed the button over the woody/mossy/musky side retaining in a linear way the fruity/floral alcoholic wave. What does this dry down smell like? Well, it smells like a sort of alcoholic and humid vegetal galbanum (a galbanum/labdanum mossy aroma) with a moody (finally neutral/soapy) and one dimensional floral feel. A finally "steady" composition from I Profumi del Forte possibly appreciable by the lovers of such type of realistic, ambiental and indolic natural fruity/floral. Finally the aroma turns out neither bitter nor fresh but barely warm, more virile and with a touch of mossy/floral soapiness. Good longevity.