Heritage
A house, in its own words
Lorenzo Villoresi opened his Maison in May 1990 inside a 15th‑century family building on Via de' Tornabuoni in Florence. The first offerings were scented candles, potpourris and room aromatizers, products that let him test blends before moving into liquid perfume. Two years after the launch, he introduced his first eau de parfum, a step that marked the brand’s entry into the niche market. In 1993 the house released Uomo, a masculine fragrance that quickly became a reference point for the brand’s early style. The mid‑1990s saw a rapid expansion: Vetiver (1994) explored earthy green notes, Musk (1995) highlighted natural animalic accords, while Acqua di Colonia (1996) and Patchouli (1996) demonstrated a willingness to reinterpret classic ingredients. The turn of the millennium added Teint de Neige (2000), a powdery composition that highlighted Villoresi’s skill with fine musks and aldehydes. A second wave of releases arrived in the 2010s, beginning with the Vintage Collection series in 2014, which revisited historic formulas such as Ambra and Vetiver with contemporary precision. In 2016 the house celebrated its 25th anniversary with 25 Insieme, a fragrance that combined notes from earlier releases into a single olfactory portrait. The most recent milestone occurred in 2018 when Villoresi founded the Florence Perfume Museum, an institution dedicated to preserving the history of scent and showcasing the city’s contribution to perfumery. Throughout its history, the brand has remained independent, retaining control over production, sourcing, and distribution, which allows it to maintain a consistent artistic direction. Villoresi frames fragrance as a dialogue between philosophy and materiality. He believes that scent can articulate ideas that words cannot, and he lets each composition tell a story rooted in travel, literature and personal reflection. The house respects the Florentine tradition of artisanal perfume making, yet it also pursues ingredients that originate far beyond Italy’s borders. Villoresi often cites his journeys to the Middle East, South America and Asia as sources of inspiration, noting that each culture offers a distinct relationship to scent. The brand prioritises authenticity; it avoids synthetic shortcuts when a natural counterpart exists, and it documents the provenance of each raw material. Sustainability appears in the philosophy as well: the house works with growers who practice responsible harvesting, and it limits batch sizes to preserve the integrity of volatile oils. By treating each fragrance as a limited‑edition artwork, Villoresi encourages collectors to engage with scent on a contemplative level rather than as a disposable commodity.