2023-09-02 20:30:36
For its rather manageable size, Elba has quite a colorful history. According to legend, the Argonauts landed on the island, which was then called Aethalia, in search of the Golden Fleece. In the Middle Ages, Elba was a refuge for Saracen pirates. And around 1814, Napoleon spent ten months in exile on the approximately 220 square kilometer small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, from the north-west of which he watched the sun go down over his native Corsica on a clear day.
Napoleon’s legacies include a source of drinking water, the Fonte Napoleone, and the name of a rocky island near the town of Marciana Marina, named after Paolina, the favorite sister of Napoleon little corporal. At Paolina, years ago, locals fished a Roman-era artifact out of the sea, the cap of a perfume bottle, and this is where the real story begins.
Because the question of which scent once wafted around the noses of their ancestors occupied the Elbans from then on; two children from Marciana Marina, Fabio Murzi and his sister Chiara, would not let her go. When the siblings got into distress during a sailing trip just off Paolina, they saw it as a sign from heaven and decided to create a fragrance themselves that could at least have smelled like the one in the antique bottle: It should capture the essence of Elba – from the colorfully shimmering macchia and the bright citrus trees to the salty sea air and the wide sandy beaches. In 2001, the two founded Acqua dell’ Elba.
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Until now, the perfume was only available in shops on Elba
They opened the first perfumery dedicated to this very special fragrance in their hometown of Marciana Marina, where the workshops are still located today. There are now five grades and, in addition to perfume, there are also shower gels, soaps and room fragrances – and in every larger town there is at least one of the turquoise Acqua dell’ Elba stores, which have the same minimalist design everywhere; in hotspots like Portoferraio, Marina di Campo or Capoliveri there are sometimes three in a few hundred square meters. A success-story.
A crucial part of the concept – and the success – has so far been the fact that Acqua dell’ Elba was only available in the Acqua dell’ Elba stores and therefore: only on Elba. Even the fragrance influencer Jeremy Fragrance had to make do with a souvenir – he likes, only marginally, the Arcipelago men’s line.
With an internet shop and stores in Florence, Siena and Rome, what many Elbans find wrong has now started: The Murzis want to expand, “both in Europe and overseas”, as Fabio Murzi says: “Internationalization is our most important strategic project”. They will look for partners and work with perfumeries. Acqua dell’Elba at Douglas? Oh dear! The magic is gone. And can someone who has never been to Elba wrap themselves in the scent of the island?
The discussion continues. Most recently, even Simone Barbi, the mayor of Marciana Marina, intervened: The corona pandemic has shown that Elba has to become independent of tourism. And he’s right. If once again no people can come to the island, it might not be bad if at least the island can come to the people.
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