“There is a culture of beauty in Italy. This country is actually home to the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites,” emphasizes Bruna Olari, Head of Fine Fragrances Italy at Givaudan. To her, this passion results in a taste for exceptional products.

According to Francesca Sideri, Senior Key Account Manager Fine Fragrances Italy at Givaudan, the culture of beauty partly explains the fact that the country has become a key market for Fine Fragrances. This phenomenon is also observed in Arts, Fashion, Design and Fine Dining. She explains that “every year, about 600 new fragrances are launched in Italy, including almost 10% in the niche segment.”

A distinctive distribution structure

According to Silvio Levi, an entrepreneur and prominent figure in Italian artistic perfumery, the success of niche perfumes in the peninsula is due to its distribution model. “In the 1990s, Italy had an exceptionally dense network of independent perfume shops, with more than 15,000 points of sale in 1994, compared with fewer than 5,000 today.” These stores are run by families who own their premises and located in historic city centres, in affluent areas with strong purchasing power. This capillary presence contributed to creating a network of pioneer shops specializing in niche perfumes.

In addition, “Italian consumers are very sensitive to personal service, which also led to the emergence of independent shops,” notes Sideri. Levi successfully worked on the notion of intimacy to create a real culture of perfumes, against the flow of selective fragrances, confined in a formatted system.

“These are places where you take the time to welcome and guide customers, and where perfumes recover a sensorial dimension. You can also go behind the scenes and discover ingredients, for example,” recalls Orlari. “When he founded Pitti Fragranze, Levi capitalized on a trade show originally dedicated to fashion to create a showcase for Italian niche perfumery expertise,” she says.

A complex, comprehensive ecosystem

“There are two sales approaches and two paces in Italy. On the one hand, the selective channel remains the base of the prestige segment: 44% of fragrances are still sold in perfume shops. On the other, independent perfume shops work at a slower pace, in particular in the south of the country, boasting a beautiful selection,” analyzes Olari.

In the north, major chains similar to Douglas are mixed with department stores, “including La Rinascente, which puts forward Fine Fragrances,” explains Catherine Dolisi, Fine Fragrance Marketing Director Europe at dsm-firmenich. There are also extremely beautiful boutiques, such as Mazzolari, a Milan-based institution offering both high-end selective brands and artistic perfumes. “Plus, there are iconic flagship stores where brands express their own heritage, for example the historical Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. Italian craftsmanship is actually deeply embedded in brands’ storytelling,” she adds.

These spaces share common areas with independent perfume bars, in line with Levi’s vision. “These shops are dedicated to niche perfumes and designed as multi-brand perfume bars offering highly specialized advice. In Milan, for example, they are established in via Brera, whose landscape is now similar to Paris’s Rue Saint-Honoré,” explains Olari.

The Gen Z, curious and well-informed, is very much keen on these boutiques, which have been well-established for several years and offer a high level of professionalism. Italian distributors and shop owners often play a true curatorial role, with a particular focus on scent signatures and emerging brands.

However, “the niche distribution landscape is undergoing a real transformation,” according to Levi. Major groups increasingly purchase or invest in mature brands. “This phenomenon leads to an increasing number of points of sale that have turned into large, highly standardized areas rather than testing-oriented places,” he regrets.

Still, with sales that “reached 1.5 billion euros in 2024, representing growth of about 11% compared to 2023,” says Sideri, Italian fragrances are still very dynamic. In a second part, we will explore the olfactory trends in this singular, constantly-evolving market.