Orto Parisi: The Scent of the Soul, Born in the Garden of the Body

“The body should be experienced as a garden, with each of its parts understood as a plant that gives off scent. These smells are a mirror of our soul.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri, founder of Orto Parisi

Basic Information
The Founder and the Brand’s Origins
The Brand’s Commitments
The Fragrance Lineup
By the Way…

Basic Information

Year founded: 2014

Founder: Alessandro Gualtieri, also known as “The Nose”

Official website: https://ortoparisi.com

“Orto Parisi” combines two Italian words. The first means “vegetable garden,” while the second is the surname of the founder’s grandfather, Vincenzo Parisi. The name itself quietly carries Gualtieri’s personal history.

The Founder and the Brand’s Origins

The Son of a Milanese Butcher

Alessandro Gualtieri was born and raised in Italy. His father ran a butcher’s shop. Life was simple and unadorned, and his mother reportedly never wore perfume. While many perfumers later describe the scent of their mothers’ perfume as the starting point of their creativity, Gualtieri has said:

“There was no perfume around me. I have no memories of flowers, or of some particular fragrance someone wore.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri

What he describes as the origin of his relationship with scent is neither flowers nor cosmetics, but memories of summer.

Summers in a Vegetable Garden in Puglia

As a child, Gualtieri spent every summer in the vegetable garden of his grandfather Vincenzo Parisi in Puglia, southeastern Italy. Among the olive trees and vegetable plots, he experienced a primal, unprocessed world with his whole body.

His grandfather fertilized the garden in a particular way: collecting his own excrement in a bucket and returning it to the soil as fertilizer. It was neither clean nor refined, but made complete sense as part of the cycle of life. Fresh scents and sharp stenches are said to have coexisted in that garden at all times. The young boy spent long hours amid that contrast.

This formative experience would become the heart of Orto Parisi. In the brand’s own words, “An air of infinity always hovered over this garden, where refreshing scents and foul odors came together to create a phenomenon of repulsion and attraction.”

In another interview, Gualtieri also told the story of a man in the Italian countryside where he spent his summers, said to be descended from farmers who had once worked for the Medici family. The man lived a very primitive life and spent much of his time dealing with animal excrement. The young Gualtieri spent many hours with him, immersed in those smells. Gualtieri has said that this episode led directly to the scents of Orto Parisi.

“I have always been drawn to dirt, animalic notes, pungent notes, and the smell of the human body. I do not use much rose.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri, New York Post

Training in Germany and Disillusionment with the Industry

Gualtieri’s formal education in perfumery began in Germany. He worked at the Düsseldorf base of the major fragrance company Haarmann & Reimer, now Symrise, and spent eight years in the industry. Alongside this, he is said to have received informal guidance from an Italian immigrant whom he met in a bar in a German town.

A visit to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates during his employment became a turning point.

“I was completely captivated there. To me, that was real perfumery. You could touch it and feel it.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri

He subsequently traveled to Oman, India, and Saudi Arabia to learn ancient perfumery techniques. Yet after returning, he continued to struggle increasingly with working within the framework of a large corporation.

“After years of being constrained by the industry’s many rules and regulations, I finally exploded. I wanted to express myself completely and bring my creations and ideas directly to consumers.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri

Gualtieri describes the situation vividly. Briefings with designers offered highly poetic scenarios. “A woman walks beside a tree, and suddenly music begins to play…” he recalled with a laugh, shrugging that “these poetic briefs can be interpreted in any number of ways.” Large companies fear change, he said, and the result is fragrance reverse-engineered from a cost calculation of “€60 per kilo.”

After leaving the industry, Gualtieri set himself the task of starting from zero. Without using his existing connections, he went from shop to shop and pitched his work himself.

The Birth of Nasomatto and a Second Garden

In 2007, or 2008 according to some sources, Gualtieri established his own brand, Nasomatto, in Amsterdam. Its name, meaning “crazy nose” from the Italian il naso matto, neatly expressed its stance. A succession of fragrances combining the skills he had developed at major brands such as Fendi, Versace, Helmut Lang, and Diesel with what seemed an explosion of anger at the industry sent shock waves through niche perfumery.

Once Nasomatto had established a firm position, Gualtieri began a new project that could be described as a second chapter. This was Orto Parisi, born in 2014.

“This is my vegetable-garden project. I planted, fertilized, cultivated, and harvested it. And I wanted to dedicate it to the person who, in a sense, inspired me. At first I tried to write my grandfather’s biography, but while writing I realized that I had never read biographies myself, and I grew bored. At the root of this project is the idea of my grandfather, Vincenzo Parisi, using a bucket to collect his own excrement in the most appropriate way and fertilize his vegetable garden. That garden always held an air of infinity. So this is for my grandfather Vincenzo Parisi, and for all those who spend their time experiencing and spreading the fragrance of life.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri, “The Nose”

Gualtieri has also revealed that although he decided to continue Nasomatto to support Orto Parisi, he had at one point considered closing it.

The Brand’s Commitments

A Philosophy: The Garden of the Body

Orto Parisi’s philosophy is simple but highly provocative. “Our bodies should be experienced as a garden, with each part seen as a plant that gives off scent.” Gualtieri says that the parts of the body with the strongest smells are those where the most “soul” gathers. The underarms, anus, genitals, folds of skin: these places, which civilized society has concealed with soap and deodorant, are the brand’s sources of inspiration.

“Strong smells have become unpleasant to us because civilization has suppressed our innate animal nature, leaving us unable to tolerate an excess of soul.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri

In an interview with Hunger Magazine, he put it more frankly.

“The underarms, the anus, and every opening that discharges liquid have a particular smell. That smell differs according to what a person has experienced, how they feel, how they live, and what they eat. These openings contain all kinds of information. The essential information of life.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri

Asked to describe his brands in a phrase, Gualtieri replied:

“Nasomatto: no limits. Orto Parisi: attraction and repulsion.”

— Alessandro Gualtieri

A Refusal to Talk About Notes

Gualtieri does not disclose formulas or ingredient notes. His position is that “by talking about the inspiration, you first convey the fragrance’s creative essence. The actual notes are something the wearer should explore over time.” He has also said that “customers are not stupid; they know what they are smelling,” consistently emphasizing experience rather than explanation.

Bottle and Packaging Design

All the creations are made as extraits de parfum, highly concentrated perfumes, and some reviews report that they lasted at least 24 hours on skin. All come in 50 ml bottles.

The simple flask-shaped glass bottles bear labels made from Savile Row tweed paper, named for London’s prestigious tailoring district. The interlocking herringbone pattern is described as “a symbol of masculine elegance.”

The caps are metal, with finishes that vary by fragrance, including antiqued effects. Their inlay materials also differ: horn for Boccanera, lignum verde, or green wood, for Viride, and a pearlescent material for Seminalis. The cap of the latest fragrance, Risvelium, carries an eye motif sealed in resin, said to symbolize consciousness and deep insight.

The outer box has a multifaceted structure that “opens toward infinity,” making the act of unboxing part of the presentation. Gualtieri personally engages with every detail of the packaging, overseeing everything from material selection to graphic design.

All the perfumes are made in Italy and are unisex.

The Fragrance Lineup

The Original Five Creations (2014)

The brand launched with five unisex extraits. The specific olfactory descriptions below include wording from retailers and reviews; they are not formulas disclosed by the brand.

Bergamask: A coined name combining Bergamo and musk. The refreshing brightness of bergamot collides with, and is drawn to, the wildness of animalic musk. The name also hints at a colloquial meaning of “men from Bergamo.”

Boccanera: Italian for “black mouth.” A warm oriental-gourmand fragrance layering dark chocolate, ginger, and spices.

Brutus: Amber, cedar, musk, and moss. “Brutus” is a proper name evoking a figure from ancient Rome, with a rough, forceful impression.

Stercus: Latin for “dung.” A surprisingly elegant woody-powdery fragrance layering almond, anise, agarwood, leather, heliotropin, and vanilla. Despite its provocative name, it has also been described as smelling of damp hay.

Viride: Latin for “green.” A refreshing fragrance in which natural woods overlay a classical fougère built with lavender and coumarin. Fougère is a fragrance family structured around notes such as lavender, coumarin, and moss.

Principal Later Creations

Seminalis: With a name suggesting sperm, this is a milky, almond-filled, sensual fragrance entwining musk and citrus.

Megamare: Released in 2019. An aquatic fragrance on the theme of the “great sea.” Seaweed, Calone, and Hedione drift above bergamot and lemon, before Ambroxan, a synthetic ambergris-type material, cedar, and musk wash ashore. One of Orto Parisi’s signature bestsellers, it is also known for reviews reporting more than 24 hours of wear.

Terroni: Released in 2017. “Terroni” is a slang term for agricultural laborers from southern Italy, and the fragrance takes the earth and roots around Mount Vesuvius as its theme. Raspberry, birch, vetiver, tonka bean, vanilla, and moss build in burning layers. The vivid red bottle is also striking.

Cuoium: Released in 2021. This leather-themed fragrance has its background in an episode from the life of Vincenzo Parisi, the founder’s grandfather. Having left malaria-stricken Puglia to work as a shoemaker in Genoa, the young Vincenzo is said to have made a single pair of leather shoes for himself in his lifetime. He wore them to the very end; even as their shape deteriorated, their soul remained. Ozonic and mineral notes, ambergris, and leather form the core of the composition.

Risvelium: Released on March 21, 2025. The latest creation is described as “the scent of awakening.” Its spiritual theme is evident in the brand’s official description: “An inhalation that tears through the ordinary, drawing on the invisible forces that connect the earthly and the ethereal.” Top notes of bergamot, mint, and eucalyptus are followed by Ambroxan, amber, and musk. The bottle cap features one of seven different eye motifs.

Indossa: Wearable Collectibles

Orto Parisi extends beyond perfume. The line called Indossa consists, literally, of wearable objects; its signature piece is a jacquard-woven robe or “rag” made of 89% linen and 11% silk. Produced by a renowned Italian weaving house, the jacquard is pigment-dyed with coffee residue to give it an aged character. The pieces are defined as seasonless, unisex, and “fully autonomous collectibles.” Like the perfumes, they can be seen as embodying Gualtieri’s creative idea of “getting out of the bottle.”

By the Way…

Nasomatto means “crazy nose” in Italian, but for his next brand, Gualtieri chose his grandfather’s surname, Parisi. The shift from an abstract philosophy to a tribute to a family member is intriguing.

Even knowing what Stercus means in Latin, those who try it have described the scent, surprisingly, as damp hay or elegant woods. The gap between the impact of the name and the actual fragrance seems to be a deliberate device on Gualtieri’s part.

Gualtieri reportedly keeps a Middle Eastern incense burner in his self-built Amsterdam studio. He once asked a visiting journalist to open their coat so they could experience the ancient Middle Eastern practice of scenting clothes with incense smoke, saying, “This is perfume.”

Gualtieri has disclosed that it took six years to complete Nasomatto’s signature Black Afgano, with a collection of formulas running to 300 pages.

Of his creative approach, he has said: “You must not be too intellectual. If you are not, when you face at least a thousand fragrance materials, they always look fresh. There is a blessing in starting from zero.”

References