Anonimo Veneziano by Nobile 1942: fragrance review

"I had removed my mask, and was drinking some coffee under the ‘procuraties’ of St. Mark’s Square, when a fine-looking female mask struck me gallantly on the shoulder with her fan. As I did not know who she was I did not take much notice of it, and after I had finished my coffee I put on my mask and walked towards the Spiaggia del Sepulcro, where M. de Bragadin’s gondola was waiting for me. As I was getting near the Ponte del Paglia I saw the same masked woman attentively looking at some wonderful monster shewn for a few pence. I went up to her; and asked her why she had struck me with her fan.
“To punish you for not knowing me again after having saved my life.”

From the memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

You open up your eyes to see she's not there anymore. You never had the chance to ask her her name...



Like Casanova (1725-1798), that "king of kiss and tell" (himself the author of this proverbial reputation)used to say: "nothing is surer than that we will no longer desire them, for one does not desire what one possesses."

Anonimo Veneziano is the name of a feminine fragrance by niche Italina brand Nobile 1942 that serves better than names as an evocation of a mysterious rencontre in the dark alleys of Venice during Carnival time.

It is coincidentally also the name of a rather melodramatic film from 1970 by Enrico Maria Salerno with a memorable music score and a plot line like "Love Story", featuring the alluring Brazilian-born Florinda Bolkan. Florinda also appeared in Visconti's "The Damned" (a long time favourite of Perfume Shrine) and she is the embodiment of the high-cheekboned mysterious dark woman. Not unlike the one whom Casanova might have rescued and never asked her name...

According to the Nobile 1942 promo:

Venice: her alluring womanly grace - let's get into all the brightness of gold.

ANONIMO VENEZIANO is the quintessence of womanliness - its mystery, its alluring ineffability. Its scent notes are tailored as to create a magnificent though delicate score.
A real masterpiece of equilibrium between naivety and sophistication.
It has no name - it is just time, place and dream.

The predominant note throughout this oriental fragrance is the sensuous feel of labdanum enhanced by the crispness of hesperidic notes of a discreetly sweet character. Bronzed and pulsating with warmth, a sultry crackle; there is perhaps also a touch of the spice caravan that stopped in the Venetian port.
The delicate sweetness is further supported by the bouquet of ylang ylang and jasmine that later surface. The former is particularly noticeable with its intense, lush character.
I feel that Anonimo Veneziano is what I had hoped the original Coco by Chanel , with which they share common elements, would be on my skin. Smooth, erotic, delicately spicy and subtly leathery resting on a sweetish ambery base with soft woods that lingers and lingers. The mystery that is woven throughout the drydown is what lured you in and made you forget mere technicalities, such as names.


Official notes:
Top: bergamot, red mandarin, brazilian orange, light jasmine
Middle: Rosa Damascena essence, dawn jasmine from India, ylang ylang, lotus flower
Bottom: cistus, indonesian patchouly, sandalwood from India, powdery vanilla

Available in Colonia Intensa (eau de toilette) and Fragranza Suprema (eau de parfum)concentration. Both have great tenacity and smell rich.

Images uploaded on Flickr by sph/step into the mist and Kaykoeverhart/venetian mask.

Pontevecchio W by Nobile 1942: fragrance review

"'Leonora,'" he read, "'sat pensive and alone. Before her lay the
rich champaign of Tuscany, dotted over with many a smiling
village. The season was spring.[...]A golden haze. [...]Off the towers of
Florence, while the bank on which she sat was carpeted with
violets. All unobserved Antonio stole up behind her--"

From E.M Forster's novel Room with a View.


Sometimes you come across a visage that speaks where no words are uttered. There is a nobility in the brow, vulnerability in the eyes, lips of petal soft promise and your heart aches a little. It doesn't matter where or when you see it, your psyche remembers it with a longing that remains unexplicable and beyond the carnal. True beauty in the spiritual sense has this effect. If that emotion was bottled in a flacon to be tentatively dosed for reminiscence's sake, it would be Pontevecchio W by Nobile 1942.

A feminine scent that compliments the male Pontevecchio, it is based on Iris Florentina, the precious rhizomes of which are proving to be so popular these last few seasons. Of course the Florentine rapport is not lost on us: Pontevecchio is the bridge over Arno, bien entendu.
And what does this journey to Florence smell like you ask?

"A young girl, transfigured by Italy! And why shouldn't she be transfigured? It happened to the Goths!"

It is those memorable words by Eleanor Lavish, the quirky and melodramatic novelist played by Judi Dench in Merchant-Ivory's film 1985 film "Room with a View" that come to mind.

Nobile 1942 chose well in picking Florence as the backdrop for their feminine tour de force. Please take a moment to see the promotional presentation devised for this perfume:click here

The mood evoked is also matched by the sublime music of Zbigniew Preisner’s “Van den Budenmayer concerto in Mi minore” for Krzysztof Kieślowski’s film “La double vie de Veronique”. (The soprano is Polish singer Elzbieta Towarnicka).
The effect is trully haunting in its beauty...

(uploaded by mixailaggelos2004)

Pontevecchio for women plays upon the delicate iris like a harp in the hands of an angel. The softest caress of magical powdery rose enfolds it, singing together like crystalline soprani melancholic tunes. The citrusy top notes bring cool air straight from behind the Pearly Gates it seems with a virginal feel of silent luminosity. It combines elements of both Bulgari Pour Femme and Creed's Fleurissimo into a lovely garland of precious flowers. The apricoty cheek of a Madonna with child, O mio Bambino Caro from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, a karyatis supporting on her delicate head a florentine palazzo floor; pure unadulterated classicism beckoning you into succumbing to its charms.
It cools down into an indefinable emrace of musk and wood that is silky skin soft.

Pontevecchio Woman comes in both colonia intensa (eau de toilette) and fragranza suprema (eau de parfum), the former being a little more citrusy and crystalline and my personal preference. They both have very good lasting power on skin.

Official notes:
Top: bergamot, mandarin, coriander seeds
Middle: iris florentina, bulgarian rose, jasmine from India
Bottom: white musk, ambery woods, sandalwood from India

Live the dream renting this filmand read the book online here.

Pic of actress Rose Byrne from the otherwise terrible, terrible film "Troy" (allmoviephotocom)

New niche line: Nobile 1942

“I have the simplest of tastes; I am always satisfied with the best”. This delightful aphorism by Oscar Wilde serves as the leitmotif for niche Italian brand Nobile 1942. Not exactly newcomers, as they hail from as back as –wait, you guessed it!- 1942, Nobile has recently been brought to my attention. The results have been more than satisfactory. And on top of that, they are not fully "discovered" yet, which is a big plus as well.

Umberto Nobile, the patriach of the firm, had always been an agent of the most glamorous perfumery marks and following his innate inclination started a perfume emporium in the year 1942 in Rome, with war at the gates. His love for beauty was passed on to the rest of the family, who decided to search on quality as a mission producing work made of sensations, allurement and intuition. The Nobile brand is still in the hands of the family, Massimo and Stefania Nobile, now residing in Arenzano, Genova. They are focusing on the best quality ingredients using natural products whenever possible and applying the old techniques of maceration, steeping, filtration and distillation.

Natural raw materials provide a greater complexity themselves and often produce the slight variation in performance on skin that aromachemicals in most commercial products are not in the habit of producing, rendering the common allegation –or even complaint- of individual skin chemistry a bogus claim. This is both an asset for the perfumer and a liability. It means a greater stability of the product and a calculated reaction in the consumer, which in marketing terms is extremely desirable. However it also detracts from the joy of discovering something afresh everyday, thus accounting for the often referenced boredom with the same smell day in day out.

Indeed as I went through the testing process of the Nobile 1942 fragrances I discerned some noticable variation of the same scents in the final effect produced. Taking into account that hormones, diet and medication did not vary from one day to the next (indeed the latter was absent altogether) I could hazard the guess that this was due to slight variations in skin temperature, room relative humidity and perhaps…mood. In any case Nobile 1942 scents proved to be pleasurable and some of them spectacular in every incarnation they took upon contact with my skin.
Opening up the sample case I was struck by the beauty and style of the presentation which shows cleraly why the Italians are masterful in affairs of design. It’s no coincidence that Ferrari is an Italian car, nor is it any less coincidental that they are the land of the opera and of living life to the full: from gelati to espresso, via the Galleria Uffici and the Murano glassblowers, Italians do know how to make beautiful things.

The papier goffré of the packaging as well as the logo and names etched in silver or gold depending on scent are simply a sight to behold. There is a tactile pleasure to be derived by handling beautiful objects and the relief of the packaging makes for another sensuous touch beyond the scent lurking inside.
The fragrances themselves are beautifully constructed, luminous and clear in their invocations, singing in unison.

There are three sub-divisions within the brand:

Pontevecchio, with one scent for women and another for men. Presented in Colonia intensa (equivalent to Eau de toilette) and Fragranza suprema (equivalent to Eau de parfum), they are trully beautiful and individual.

Anonimo Veneziano, a feminine fragrance built on enigmatic and sensous notes that capture the dark shades behind medieval palazzi during an evening stroll in Venice.

Vespriesperidati, an eau-de-cologne-like scent for both sexes, which is the lattest addition in the line.


Reviews and added commentary on all of them coming up next!!

Pics courtesy of the Nobile brand

A little teasing!

Worshippers of the Shrine, please stay tuned for next posts which will occupy themselves with a new niche line with fabulous products!

Optical Scentsibilities: head thrown back in abandon

It had been no secret that Tom Ford's Black Orchid for women photoshoot involving Carin Roitfield's daughter (Carin being the editor in chief of French Vogue, no less) had been "inspired" by old Hollywood iconography. Tom Ford if nothing else is a brilliant marketeer who can always be relied upon to know which images will tick the fancy of his target audience. Or perhaps not.

In this case he was inspired by this Veronica Lake photo {click to see it!} by George Hurrell from 1941. The famous peek-a-boo platinum hair is now spawled all over the bed in a pose of surrender and what seems like vague expectation of who knows what.
A phone call, a caress, a bullet?


Dita von Teese, that gorgeous specimen of burlesque, has always relied on old-style Hollywood glam to project her divinely contrasted features. I had used this exact pic in lieu of the official one when I reviewed Black Orchid upon its launch {click for review}. It had seemed more glam than the official one and besides Dita has been a favourite for a long time.

Guerlain also had their own share in this department, alloting their iconic oriental Shalimar a place for this pose of surrender.

The original Opium advertisement with Jerry Hall, poster child of the late 70s, early 80s was first to be inspired by the glamour of yore. In this photo shoot she throws her head back as if high on the addictive powers of Opium. Very fitting considering the line is "For those who are addicted to Yves Saint Laurent".

This was my favourite from the group of Opium advertisments, if only because the fiery red of the model's hair (is it Angie Everheart?)is so complimentary to the cinnabar/vermillon colour of the perfume's flacon and so antithetical to the electric blue background. Remember electric blue, that favourite shade of the 80s that was vibrant like cloud charges on a night of temptest? It offset other shades so vividly...
Of course that pose can be also traced back to Veronica Lake in another shot by George Hurrell. This one: here! Pretty amazing, huh?

Perhaps one might trace the positioning of the body in such a manner to painting in the first place. In particular the iconography of St.Peter’s crucifixion, here by Luca Giordano (1692). Martyrs are often depicted in poses of abandon, as if they are left to their fate, willingly surrundering themselves to higher exigencies.

Then again I might be pushing it…

Ads from okadi,imagedesparfums and parfumsdepub. Veronica Lake pic from Ebay. Painting Crucufixion of St.Peter by angel-art-house.com