Colonia(1916)

Created by Acqua di Parma's in-house perfumers, Colonia is the house's founding fragrance and remains its signature composition more than a century later, built on Sicilian lemon, bergamot, and lavender in the opening, a heart of rose, verbena, and rosemary, and a base of sandalwood, vetiver, and patchouli. It follows the classical Eau de Cologne template established by the Farina family two centuries earlier, citrus-forward, herbal, and fresh, but extends that structure with a more substantial, woody-vetiver base than most traditional colognes carried, giving it greater depth and longevity than the fleeting citrus splashes of the 18th and 19th centuries. Acqua di Parma was founded in Parma, Italy, in 1916, explicitly positioning itself within the long Italian and southern-European tradition of citrus-based perfumery that had originated with Sicilian and Calabrian growers supplying bergamot and lemon to houses across the continent. The fragrance became closely associated with Italian style and elegance through the 20th century, worn by figures including Cary Grant and Ava Gardner, and its yellow-and-black packaging remains one of the most recognized in classical perfumery. More than a hundred years after its creation, Colonia remains in continuous production largely unchanged, standing alongside 4711 and Guerlain's Eau de Cologne Imperiale as one of the longest-surviving classical colognes still sold today.