Sospiro
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Grapefruit announces itself with startling bitterness—not the sweet, breakfast-table kind, but pith and zest crushed together, immediately undercut by celery seed's herbal, almost medicinal sharpness. Galbanum adds a green cat-scratch to the citrus, whilst pink pepper fizzes at the edges, making your nose tingle with anticipation.
Labdanum's amber-resinous warmth begins its embrace, whilst carnation unfurls with its characteristic spicy, clove-like floralcy that feels both vintage and utterly contemporary. The woods start building—cedar's pencil-shaving dryness meeting gaiac's smoky peculiarity—whilst black pepper and nutmeg add a prickling heat that prevents any cosiness from settling in.
What remains is a sophisticated woody-mossy base where vetiver's earthy roots intertwine with sandalwood's creamy whisper and oakmoss's bitter-green foundation. The celery seed's herbal quality never quite disappears, lending an unusual savoury edge to the finish that keeps you returning to your wrist, trying to decode what makes this linger in the memory long after the sillage has faded.
Basso is a study in contrasts: grapefruit's bitter-sharp flesh sliced against the resinous warmth of labdanum, whilst celery seed injects an almost medicinal greenness that shouldn't work but absolutely does. Christian Provenzano has crafted something genuinely unusual here—a fragrance that opens with citrus brightness yet refuses to play the clean, safe aromatic game. Instead, that grapefruit pith bitterness finds itself wrapped in carnation's spiced, clove-like floralcy, whilst celery seed brings an herbal, almost savoury quality that makes you question whether you're smelling a fragrance or standing in a particularly elegant greengrocer's.
The wood construction here is masterful: gaiac's smoky, medicinal facets dance with cedar's dryness, vetiver's earthy rootiness, and sandalwood's creamy undertones. Yet it's that galbanum—green, bitter, almost cat-pissy in its intensity—that prevents this from becoming another pleasant woody scent. The spice quartet of pink pepper, black pepper, nutmeg, and carnation creates a prickly heat rather than orientalist sweetness. There's an oakmoss foundation that nods to classic chypré structures, but this is thoroughly modern in its refusal to comfort.
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3.4/5 (156)