The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Preja Buja was created by Maurizio Cerizza and released in 2016 for women and men. Its subject is the Sass da Preja Buia, an ice-age boulder in Piedmont regarded as a prehistoric altar and marked over centuries by votive symbols. The stone was approached as a place of spiritual power, fertility, and divine protection. That sense of an object carrying memory gives the fragrance its direction: not a decorative woodland gesture, but something older, mineral, and ceremonial, rendered through incense, resins, woods, and musk.
The composition turns that idea into a meeting of opposites. Angelica, artemisia, and cypriol create an herbal, earthy entry. Myrrh and incense give that opening a ceremonial lift, while ylang-ylang brings a restrained floral note into the smoke. Patchouli and oud provide gravity, and cashmere wood softens the architecture without making it sweet.
The evolution
The opening begins cool, green, and almost mineral, with angelica and artemisia cutting through the first impression. Cypriol deepens that herbal line, making the fragrance feel less like a bright aromatic and more like weathered ground. As the heart arrives, myrrh and incense take the lead, carrying a dark, resinous cloud. Ylang-ylang softens the smoke with a quiet floral pulse, preventing it from becoming stark. On skin, the composition gradually leans into patchouli and oud, where the green earthiness gains depth. Cashmere wood introduces a woven texture, amber adds warmth, and musk keeps the final trail close and skin-like. By the end of its typical 4-6 hour wear, it settles into a warm, resinous drydown, with patchouli and musk usually doing more of the lingering than the brighter opening notes.
Cultural impact
Preja Buja belongs to a quieter register of Italian fragrance, where place and memory matter more than immediate trend language. Its Piedmont subject gives it a contemplative, ritual-like context, while the unisex woody and musky profile makes it easy to meet in shared, understated spaces.
The House
Acqua di BiellaAcqua di Biella is an Italian perfume house rooted in the textile capital of Piedmont, established in 1871. Founder Luigi Cantono began by crafting artisanal soaps, candles, and perfumed waters from a workshop in Biella's historic center. The house draws deep inspiration from its Alpine surroundings and the city's reputation for fine textile production. Modern fragrance releases emerged around 2005, drawing from an archive of traditional recipes reportedly sourced from local monastic convents. The collection includes notable scents like Baraja (2002), Janca (2004), Bursch (2005), Ca' Luna (2007), Kid Mohair (2008), Cashmere Twill (2008), and Preja Buja (2016). Each fragrance name references the textile heritage that defines the Biella region, connecting the house's olfactory identity to its territorial roots. The brand operates as a niche perfume house, maintaining its presence in the city where it was founded over 150 years ago.
The Creator
Maurizio CerizzaCerizza's work reflects the discipline of the Roure method he absorbed early in his career. He favors working with natural materials, drawing on his family's deep expertise in extraction and distillation to inform every creation.
