THE MERCHANT OF VENICE — Perfume Born from a Museum, Trade and Craft

My visceral love for Venice and the wonderful history of Venetian perfumery inspired me in the creation of my brand.

— Marco Vidal

Blue and gold decoration, richly coloured glass and a wind rose on a cap: the bottles of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE bring together the city’s architecture, craftsmanship and history of maritime exchange. The Venetian house connects learning where aromatic materials came from with wearing fragrance today.

Its founder, Marco Vidal, belongs to the fourth generation of the Vidal family’s perfume business. The idea grew while he was helping create the perfume displays at Palazzo Mocenigo. Research for a museum became a starting point for contemporary fragrance.

Contents

Basic information
The founder and the brand’s beginnings
The brand’s approach to making
Incidentally, Marco’s favourite smells are not only perfume ingredients
References

Basic information

Origins: a cultural project established in 2013; the first fragrance collection launched in October 2014
Founder: Marco Vidal
Parent company: the Vidal family’s Mavive, established by Massimo Vidal in 1986
Place of origin: Venice, Italy
Official websites: The Merchant of Venice / Japan

The founder and the brand’s beginnings

The fourth generation of a Venetian perfume business

The family business began in 1900, when Angelo Vidal established a company producing and trading soaps, spices and goods imported from Asia. Its first perfumery workshop stood in Palazzo Mocenigo in San Stae. The palace that later housed the perfume museum was also part of the family’s working history.

The business expanded onto the mainland, and Pino Silvestre emerged along the way. After the former Vidal company passed to Henkel in 1980, Angelo’s grandson Massimo established Mavive in 1986. Its name abbreviates Massimo Vidal Venezia.

Marco was born in Venice and studied international diplomatic sciences at the University of Bologna. He describes a family rooted in the city while remaining open to international connections. His role brings cultural subjects into product development, working with a development team and perfumers. The question behind his own brand was what this city’s history could contribute to perfume.

A museum project gives rise to a fragrance house

In 2011, the Vidal family began developing a project linking its business heritage with Venetian perfume culture. Mavive and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia collaborated on the renovation and expansion of Palazzo Mocenigo’s displays in 2013, adding a new route through the history of perfume.

The experience extends beyond viewing old bottles. A room evokes a historical perfumer’s workshop, with stills and containers; a wall map traces routes used to bring in aromatic materials. Elsewhere, visitors can smell materials themselves. Dress, grooming, containers and ingredients become parts of the same cultural history.

As Marco researched that history, the idea of communicating it through wearable fragrances developed. His explanation of culture’s place in the business is direct.

Culture adds credibility and depth to a business project.

— Marco Vidal

The brand supported a place for investigating and experiencing history before turning it into product stories. That sequence helps explain its approach to making perfume.

The 2014 launch and the meaning of a merchant

The first Murano Collection launched in October 2014, alongside a flagship in an old pharmacy in Campo San Fantin. Nobil Homo, Murano Exclusive and Murano Art followed in 2015.

The name came to Marco one night while considering what to call the project. A merchant travelling in search of fine raw materials could also represent cultural exchange. Its familiarity through Shakespeare’s play suited the ambition of sharing Venice internationally.

In 2022, Accordi di Profumo introduced a material-focused collection, while the historic Libreria Studium was relaunched with an olfactory library for fragrance education and composition courses. The work that began with a museum continued through perfumes, shops and places to learn.

The brand’s approach to making

Reading trade routes through combinations of materials

The maritime convoys of the Venetian Republic were known as mude, or muda in the singular. The brand draws on the variety of spices, woods, resins and oils that arrived through their ports. Nicola Pozzani, who works in olfactory development, explains the connection:

Different trade routes all passed through Venice, and different ingredients came from each route.

— Nicola Pozzani

Murano Collection is a range of eaux de parfum inspired by these routes and aromatic materials. Ingredients gathered along each route, the landscapes around ports, and stories of flowers and fruit become the subjects of fragrance. Routes west towards France and Spain join those leading to the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

Andalusian Soul makes that idea concrete. Inspired by the Muda di Barbaria, which travelled through North African ports to Malaga and the Spanish coast, it combines rum-like notes, labdanum and other balsamic elements with sage and vanilla. The route’s associations with liquor and aromatic plants become partners to the fragrance’s sweetness.

Mystic Incense takes its subject from the muda to Egypt and the frankincense trade associated with it. Frankincense is layered with woods, dried fruit, salted caramel and cocoa absolute. The impression of burning incense meets confectionery sweetness and bitterness in a woody gourmand interpretation.

Cyprus Shell brings together the Syrian muda, Cyprus and the Cyprus powder described in old perfume books. Pear and a salty accord meet iris, rose and frankincense, leading into patchouli, oakmoss and musk. Its blue bottle and wave pattern carry the story of Aphrodite emerging from a shell.

Within the same collection, Mandarin Carnival foregrounds Sicilian colour and the brightness of mandarin. Bergamot and petitgrain meet neroli and orange blossom, supported by musk and woods. Its inspiration, the Muda del Trafego, is described as a route towards Tunis, Alexandria and Beirut.

Byzantium Saffron draws on the Muda della Tana e di Romania, reaching Constantinople and the Black Sea, and combines saffron and thyme with a white suede accord, patchouli and amber. Suave Petals refers to the Muda delle Acque Morte, connecting Aigues-Mortes and Aragonese ports in the western Mediterranean. Nectarine and pineapple meet tuberose, white rose and orange blossom.

Venezia & Oriente is a separate collection exploring the relationship between Venice, Asian destinations and materials arriving from them. Blue Tea connects a blue tea accord with rose, magnolia and neroli, while mate, vetiver and musk support its green character.

Gyokuro, inspired by the Japanese tea, opens brightly with black pepper, fruit and neroli. Green tea at its centre meets lotus, peach and tuberose before moving into sandalwood and vetiver.

Moscado is dedicated to Marco Polo and takes musk as its subject within the same collection. Mandarin and pink pepper introduce frankincense, musk and rose, wrapped in myrrh and tonka bean. In contrast with the two tea-inspired works, it connects a dedication to a distant traveller with a contemporary expression of musk.

Studying old formulas to make contemporary perfume

Historical research does not mean leaving formulas unchanged. The brand aimed to make both its designs and its fragrances contemporary.

First of all, both the designs and the fragrances are contemporary.

— Marco Vidal

One product-development example Marco presented in 2017 took 18 months. He coordinated the historical research with scholars from Ca’ Foscari University. The family’s involvement in reprinting Rossetti’s 1555 perfume treatise belongs to this accumulation of knowledge.

According to Marco, in 2025 the olfactory development team led by Pozzani prepared detailed briefs for partner fragrance houses and their perfumers. The team assessed proposals and requested revisions. Choosing a cultural subject and refining a fragrance composition are connected but distinct contributions.

Calice Becker, the perfumer behind Renaissance, describes a concrete meeting point between historical research and composition. At its London presentation in 2026, she recalled reading Secreti Nobilissimi dell’Arte Profumatoria, published in sixteenth-century Venice. Expecting an academic work, she instead found recipes for cosmetics and creams that felt close to domestic life.

“I was very moved by this nascent perfumery,” Becker said. In recipes less exact in their quantities and precision than modern formulas, she encountered an early stage of the craft. Renaissance belongs to Murano Exclusive and takes harmony and balance in Renaissance portraiture as its subject. Galbanum, saffron, iris, leather and patchouli combine powdery flowers with green resinous facets and the depth of leather and woods.

Special Projects also includes works inspired by an earlier era. Queen of the Night draws on the aromatic culture of ancient Egypt, combining a blue-lotus scent with saffron and cinnamon, then a kyphi accord, myrrh, sandalwood and tonka bean. Floral impressions, spices and resinous sweetness form an eau de parfum concentrée.

Eternal Sunrise follows it, shifting the ancient Egyptian subject from night to sunrise. Its centre is a contemporary accord of kyphi, the ancient aromatic blend of plants and resins. Frankincense oil and resinoid, cypriol, Akigalawood and Ambrofix meet styrax, cistus and tonka bean.

Architecture, glass and textiles become different kinds of bottles

The Murano Collection’s colours and patterns convey an interest in Venetian glass. Marco also described a heat-sublimation decoration process in early development. Drawing inspiration from craft should not be taken to mean that every bottle is handmade using the same technique.

Murano Exclusive brings Venetian art, architecture and decorative styles into fragrance and blue-and-gold bottles. A range of eaux de parfum concentrées, it is not simply a stronger version of each Murano Collection fragrance. Individual works develop subjects such as Renaissance art, Rococo and arabesque ornament.

Arabesque takes inspiration from the Ca’ d’Oro palace. Its blue-and-gold patterned glass is paired with a gold cap bearing a wind rose and a hanging metal tag. Tobacco leaves, plum and ginger are combined with cinnamon and cedarwood. Beside Andalusian Soul’s rum and resins, it offers a different focus: fruit accompanying tobacco, spice and wood.

Vinegia 21 takes its name from an old name for Venice and from 2021, when the city celebrated its 1,600th anniversary. Commemorating the tradition that Venice was founded in 421, it combines saffron, cinnamon and a praline accord with an oud accord, patchouli and Akigalawood. Myrrh and incense are followed by vanilla and sandalwood, adding confectionery sweetness to dense woods and resins.

Rococò 26 takes as its subject Rococo ornament, in which lightness and richness coexist. Saffron and clove lead into caramel, jasmine and patchouli, finishing with benzoin, vanilla, tonka bean and cocoa. Rococò and Rococò 26 are listed separately in the Italian range.

Nobil Homo transfers traditional Venetian textile patterns to rectangular bottles. Marco describes deliberately giving the fragrances a range of characters so wearers can change them with their clothes and occasions. The current Murano Art collection places coloured murrine glass decorations on black bottles. Architectural ornament, textile patterns and the character of glass itself provide different ways of carrying local craft into the object.

Nobil Homo is a men’s collection drawing on the trade and travels of Venetian nobles, with both eaux de parfum and eaux de parfum concentrées. Colonia Veneziana combines bergamot, orange and lemon with rosemary, then softens ginger and clary sage with iris. The composition moves towards cedar and musk, carrying citrus freshness into herbs and woods.

Venetian Blue is a marine fragrance that layers apple, pineapple, lemon and bergamot over a contemporary fougère structure. Patchouli and birch provide a mossy, smoky foundation beneath the bright fruit. Its blue rectangular bottle combines the colour of the sea with textile motifs. The collection also includes Venetian Blue Intense, distinguished as an eau de parfum concentrée.

Lussino Essence takes its subject from an island coast and a breeze carrying aromatic plants. Bitter orange, mandarin and cardamom meet petitgrain, broom and a fig accord, with an impression of roasted fennel. Ambrofix and ambrettolide support the base, translating a Mediterranean landscape into citrus, leaves, fruit and warm spice.

Murano Art brings glass craftsmanship into the sculptural form of the object. The current extraits de parfum place individual coloured murrine decorations on black bottles. Pastel Oud, with black-and-white decoration, layers plum, rosemary and artemisia with soft leather, freesia and ylang-ylang, supported by an oud accord, guaiacwood and vetiver.

Divine Rose, with pale pink murrine, combines rose with cinnamon, saffron and plum, leading into oud, amber and musk. Cuir Sensuel has red decoration, Nuit Féline blue, Myrrh Oud yellow and orange, and Pearl Bouquet bright green. The collection pairs the character of each fragrance with a colour in glass.

Nectars Collection, presented at Palazzo Mocenigo in 2024, brings oil-based perfumes together with blown glass. Michela Cattai designed the bottles, made by Murano artisans. The bullicante technique traps bubbles in the glass, while the caps use gold leaf. Red, green and amber bottles can be paired with a choice of three fragrances.

The fragrances reinterpret the royal perfume oil Regale Unguentum described by Pliny the Elder. Dulcis Nectar combines iris with cardamom, labdanum and opoponax, supported by frankincense and myrrh. Inebrians Nectar layers apple, grapefruit and fig leaf with impressions of blue lotus, peony and rose. In Regale Nectar, orange, geranium and cardamom lead into frankincense, guaiacwood and vetiver, while benzoin and vanilla deepen the resinous sweetness.

From a local rose to a singer’s contrasts

Special Projects explores individual subjects connected with Venice. Alongside works inspired by ancient Egyptian aromatic culture, a local rose, musicians and city events develop into distinct fragrances and bottles.

The subjects extend beyond trade routes. Rosa Moceniga centres on the Mocenigo Rose surviving at an estate in Alvisopoli. In the brand’s account, the rose travelled from China to France before Lucia Mocenigo, a friend of Joséphine Bonaparte, brought it to Venice. A flower’s history also carries a story of people and places.

Rosa Moceniga Elixir places that flower at the centre again, as an eau de parfum concentrée. Blood orange, lemon and pear introduce different forms of rose materials: Mocenigo rose essence, Turkish rose essential oil, rose absolute and rose water. Madagascan vanilla, musk and amber woods form the base, moving from fresh fruit towards a sweet, creamy finish.

Created for the centenary of Maria Callas’s birth, Maria Callas was composed by Olivier Pescheux and Yann Vasnier. It interprets the contrasts of the singer’s voice and personality through a contemporary chypre. Its bright citrus and floral elements against a woody structure offer a different emphasis from Rosa Moceniga’s rose supported by soft musk and vanilla. The distinction lies in what the flowers are being used to express.

Maria Callas opens with mandarin, lemon and black pepper. Its heart combines rose, a blackcurrant accord, neroli buds and a green-leaf accord. Texan and Virginian cedarwood, Georgywood and Akigalawood form the base. Soft flowers sit beside clearly defined woods in a portrait seeking more than elegance alone.

Gold Regatta takes Venice’s Regata Storica as its subject. An opening suggesting red algae and prickly pear fruit meets immortelle and a salty driftwood impression, supported by amber and vanilla. This eau de parfum portrays the waterborne festival through the salinity of the canals, wood and Mediterranean plants. It appears under Special Projects in Italy, while its Japanese product name also includes Nobil Homo.

La Fenice continues the relationship with music. Born from a cultural collaboration with Venice’s opera house, it brings the theatre’s blue and gold into its bottles. Alongside Pour Femme and Pour Homme, My Pearls takes its subject from the pearls treasured by sopranos who performed on that stage.

In La Fenice Pour Femme, hawthorn, heliotrope, almond blossom and tonka bean create a powdery floral impression. Mandarin brightness and tuberose are layered over cedar and vanilla. Pour Homme combines the freshness of green leaves and apple blossom with frankincense, black pepper and clove, leading into cedar, leather and amber. The shared theatrical subject becomes soft floral powder in one work and a composition of spice and leather in the other.

My Pearls alludes to Violetta, the heroine of La Traviata, through an accord recalling wild violets. Blackcurrant buds and pink pepper accompany white flowers and the green side of rose, finishing softly with tonka bean, sandalwood and musk. This floral, powdery eau de parfum concentrée is presented in a pearlescent bottle.

Making material names and origins part of the wearer’s experience

Accordi di Profumo joins material and place names in fragrances such as Bergamotto Italia, Patchouli Indonesia and Vanilla Madagascar. Developed with Givaudan, it connects sourcing and support for growing communities with Sourcing4Good and the Givaudan Foundation’s work.

These are finished eaux de parfum designed to be worn individually or layered. A wearer can explore one material’s expression, then compare what changes when another fragrance is added. From a museum explaining what once crossed the sea to a collection encouraging questions about today’s materials, the cultural project continues in the experience of using perfume.

The word accordi refers to harmonious combinations of several aromatic elements. Each perfume takes a material and its place of origin as its subject. At the 2022 launch, two fragrances were placed in each of four families: citrus, floral, amber and woody. Rose, vanilla and vetiver works followed.

Bergamotto Italia focuses on bergamot harvested in southern Italy. An extraction approach using juice as well as peel seeks to convey the fruit’s freshness more fully. Patchouli Indonesia introduces the drying and fermentation of harvested leaves before distillation, exploring woody scent with earthy, tobacco-like, green and resinous facets.

Sandalo Australia layers amber warmth over creamy sandalwood. Zafferano Iran explores saffron’s spicy character through facets recalling wood, honey, tobacco and leather.

Layering suggestions include Bergamotto Italia with Neroli Marocco or Tonka Venezuela, and Patchouli Indonesia with Neroli Marocco or Sandalo Australia. Vanilla Madagascar is paired with Arancia Brasile or Sandalo Australia.

Incidentally, Marco’s favourite smells are not only perfume ingredients

Among the smells Marco named as personal favourites in 2021 were turpentine, paper, oil paints and horses. He chose fragrances according to how he wanted to feel that day. His interest reaches books, painting materials and familiar animals as well as celebrated aromatic ingredients—a small personal detail behind the work of translating a city’s culture into fragrance.