Abbate y La Mantia
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bergamot and lemon detonate with brightness, immediately joined by lavender and thyme—a blast of herbal alertness that feels almost pharmaceutical. You might mistake this for a standard eau de cologne in the first moments, were it not for the immediate emergence of marjoram, which adds an unexpected savoury dimension that's neither floral nor fresh, but something altogether more unusual.
The composition settles into its true identity as the citrus recedes. Coriander spice, clary sage, and chamomile emerge as a cohesive herbal bloc, whilst jasmine and rose materialise as pale watercolour washes rather than bold strokes—they soften without sweetening. The chypre structure becomes apparent here: earthy and slightly powdery, with oakmoss creating a faintly bitter undertone that prevents any saccharine drift.
The woody base—sandalwood, cedarwood, and patchouli—dominates alongside musk, but without projection or warmth. This is a faint, almost spectral presence; the fragrance clings close to skin, becoming increasingly abstract and herbal, less fragrance than the ghost of one. It whispers rather than speaks.
Colonia Isacco arrives as a clarion declaration of European classicism—a fragrance that refuses the baroque excess of its era. Roger Broudoux has crafted something austere and intellectually rigorous: a cologne that smells like a 1961 apothecary crossed with a Tuscan herb garden after rain.
The citrus accent is immediately apparent—bergamot and lemon provide a sharp, almost medicinal brightness—but what distinguishes this from countless other citrus compositions is the herb-forward heart. Marjoram and thyme arrive almost immediately alongside the top notes, creating an herbal counterweight that prevents this from reading as merely a sunshine-in-a-bottle fragrance. There's a culinary quality here: the coriander adds spice without sweetness, whilst clary sage introduces a slightly mineral, almost green-tea-like quality that keeps things from ever becoming floral in the traditional sense.
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