Al Sacro Cuore: Talking with Makers Before Their Perfumes Reach the Shelves

“This is an autopsy of the perfume.”

Giovanni Padovan (translated from Italian)

In 2014, in a perfume shop in Bologna, Giovanni Padovan brought out four small bottles. One held Dallandra, a fragrance he had conceived himself. The other three contained the separate scents that composed it. Rather than simply inviting someone to smell a finished perfume, he revealed its inner workings. That was part of the work of the owner of Al Sacro Cuore.

Today, the shop on Via de’ Fusari, near Piazza Maggiore, specializes in niche perfumes from multiple brands. Works from well-known houses sit within the same selection as experiments by new creators. Its history shows how closely finding and selling perfumes has been connected with supporting their makers and explaining their work to customers.

Essential Information
From Lia’s Shop to a Perfumery Devoted to Exploration
Bringing Established Niche Perfumes and New Creators Together
Customer Service and Sampling That Reveal a Perfume’s Structure
1. The Inner Workings of Dallandra, Shown in Four Small Bottles
2. Choosing Through Conversation, Then Trying at Home
References

Essential Information

Name: Antica Profumeria Al Sacro Cuore
Origins: Opened by Lia Lo Brutto on Via Matteotti in Bologna in 1965
Transformation into a specialist perfumery: In 1990, Lia and her husband Giovanni Padovan developed a shop centered on the exploration of perfume
Current management: Lia and her children, Gianluca and Beatrice, continue its work
Main physical shop: Via de’ Fusari 6c, 40123 Bologna, Italy
Business: A multi-brand specialist perfume shop, also selling online
Official website: Profumeria Al Sacro Cuore

From Lia’s Shop to a Perfumery Devoted to Exploration

Opening in 1965 and Changing Direction in 1990

There are two starting points in the shop’s history. In 1965, Lia Lo Brutto opened a perfumery on Via Matteotti. That shop, near the church of Sacro Cuore di Gesù, was the beginning. Then, in 1990, Lia and Giovanni gave shape to the specialist perfumery that would lead to the shop of today.

Giovanni’s working life began in fashion. Familiar with a culture that sought new forms of expression while reconsidering older things, he drew inspiration for a highly specialized business from small shops he encountered on trips to Britain. Rather than stocking a wide range of unrelated goods, he would engage deeply with perfume itself. He and his wife put that approach into practice in Bologna.

It was the kind of shop known in Italy as a profumeria di ricerca, a perfumery devoted to researching and selecting fragrances. Instead of building its shelves entirely around widely familiar products, it would discover scents customers did not yet know and explain their background and differences. This was work that required both the selector’s knowledge and a conversation with the person receiving a recommendation.

A new shop opened in Galleria Falcone e Borsellino in April 1994. From 2017, the business moved to Via de’ Fusari. Although its premises and location changed, its central purpose remained: specializing in perfume and communicating the forms of expression it makes possible.

Working with Creators Before Their Perfumes Reach the Shop

The couple’s work was not limited to choosing which finished products to buy. Their relationship with the Italian brand MONOM shows this in concrete terms.

As Renato Bongiorno developed the idea of making his own perfumes, repeated conversations with Giovanni helped nurture the concept of a new brand. Lia and Giovanni also took part in evaluating the fragrances as work progressed with perfumer Nicola Bianchi. On November 27, 2014, MONOM presented its first seven scents at the shop.

“We presented the brand here; it was our first customer.”

Simone Bongiorno, MONOM co-founder (translated from Italian)

For Simone, the opportunity to sell was not the only thing that mattered. When doubts arose during development, Giovanni encouraged them to trust their intuition and keep going. Their gratitude to the couple also survives in the perfume names. The rose fragrance Rosalia was named in recognition of Lia’s enthusiasm when she smelled it. The name of another fragrance, Irmao, is connected with a message Renato received from Giovanni that meant “thank you, brother” in Portuguese.

Meo Fusciuni has likewise said that the couple helped him recognize not only the direction to take but also his mistakes. Buying a creator’s work can also mean supporting their judgment. Al Sacro Cuore’s selection carries the accumulated weight of such long relationships.

A Family’s Work Continues After Giovanni’s Death

Giovanni died on May 1, 2023, at the age of 84. His work of seeking out perfumes and discussing them with customers and creators has passed to Lia and their children.

Gardelia, presented again in 2025 to mark 60 years since Lia opened her shop, gave that continuity a tangible form. The first Gardelia, in 2015, was Giovanni’s dedication to his wife and the shop’s 50 years. For the version a decade later, architect and perfumer Antonio Gardoni, a longtime friend, once again developed the concept, updating both the formula and the shape of the bottle.

“For me, it is a perfume of love.”

Lia Lo Brutto, on Gardelia (translated from Italian)

The cap of the 2025 edition was inspired by a bottle from the 1930s in Giovanni’s personal collection. Rather than simply preserving an object from the past, it transformed something accumulated over time into a new form. The relationship between the shop’s owners, and the years they had spent studying perfume, were preserved in a fragrance of their own.

Al Sacro Cuore: A Timeline

Year	Event
1965	Lia Lo Brutto opens her shop on Via Matteotti.
1990	Lia and Giovanni give shape to the specialist perfumery that leads to today’s shop.
1994	The new shop in Galleria Falcone e Borsellino opens in April.
2014	Giovanni presents Dallandra at Smell Festival. On November 27, MONOM’s first seven fragrances are presented at the shop.
2015	Gardelia is created for the 50th anniversary of Lia’s business.
2017	The shop moves to Via de’ Fusari.
2023	Giovanni dies on May 1.
2025	Gardelia is updated to mark the shop’s 60th anniversary.

Bringing Established Niche Perfumes and New Creators Together

The current official catalog includes Le Labo, Frédéric Malle, Byredo, Creed, Maison Francis Kurkdjian and Nasomatto. Le Labo’s Santal 33 and Another 13, and Frédéric Malle’s Portrait of a Lady and Carnal Flower, are among the fragrances carried, each with its own product page.

Alongside them are names such as MONOM, Bogue, Pekji, Puredistance and RITO. The shop is not organized simply around its own Gardelia; its selection allows visitors to explore the expressions of multiple creators. Part of the reason to visit is the opportunity to begin with a familiar work and move toward a different idea beside it.

Measuring that range only by the number of brands, however, would obscure part of the couple’s work. As their involvement in MONOM’s development shows, selection could begin with time spent smelling and discussing an experiment before it even had a name. The decision to stock something has been connected not just with a finished bottle but also with a relationship with the person making it.

Customer Service and Sampling That Reveal a Perfume’s Structure

The Inner Workings of Dallandra, Shown in Four Small Bottles

Dallandra, introduced at the beginning of this article, grew from conversations between Giovanni and musician Lucio Dalla, whom he had known since childhood. Whenever Dalla visited the shop, he would suggest that they make a perfume together. He died before the plan could be realized. In 2014, a Smell Festival project provided an opportunity to fulfill Giovanni’s promise to his friend.

“For the top note, I chose ink.”

Giovanni Padovan (translated from Italian)

Behind that choice was the image of his friend writing songs. The chocolate scent was connected with the memory of a fragrance Giovanni had once composed for Dalla, who liked to use it on his boat. Presenting the finished perfume beside three scents that explained its structure was not simply a way to let someone smell something unusual. It allowed the nose to trace how a perfume is built from memories of a person and decisions made during its creation.

This approach was also connected with cultural activities. At a 2015 event on the theme of the anatomy of a perfume, Giovanni Sammarco explained perfume creation through its materials and ideas. The event then moved to the shop, where perfumes were paired with clothes made by students from Bologna’s Academy of Fine Arts. It was a setting in which scent could meet another form of expression, bringing people closer to aspects of creation that are difficult to communicate in words alone.

Choosing Through Conversation, Then Trying at Home

The shop’s current description of its service likewise begins with listening to each person’s memories, feelings and sense of themselves as a wearer. However carefully the shop has selected its perfumes, the final encounter is with the individual who will use them. Knowledge of a fragrance’s background is combined with the work of listening to the customer.

Online, the shop also offers a Sample Card service for trying spray samples. Customers can choose the perfumes they want, or provide clues about their preferences and ask the shop to suggest a combination. Le Labo, some higher-priced fragrances and perfume oils are excluded, however, and this service ships only within Italy. Not every fragrance in the catalog can be tried on the same terms.

As of October 2026, the main physical shop listed for visits is at Via de’ Fusari 6c in Bologna, Italy. The official regular opening hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with the shop closed on Sundays. Before visiting, check the latest official information and take care not to confuse the current location with the former address in the Galleria.

What distinguishes Al Sacro Cuore’s history is the way the people selecting perfumes have been involved with both their makers and their wearers. They welcome a new form of expression, explain what is inside it and consider together whether it suits the person in front of them. Giovanni’s work of setting out those four small bottles captures that relationship well.