Gattopardo

Antonio Alesandria's Gattopardo (Leopard) is an evocative modern gourmand interpretation of the setting that was the basis for the novel of the same name and subsequent classic film by Visconti which captured the final days of dying Italian aristocracy through the eyes of a stoic titular Sicilian patriarch played superbly by Burt Lancaster. Notable in the novel and the film is the evocative description of the lifestyle of these individuals with grand feasts and leisurely pastimes. The scent captures this mood very beautifully. The opening is a boozy one with notes of whiskey, bergamot and fig. It transitions almost immediately to a floral heart consisting of iris and geranium and then settles into a dense gourmand base which is composed of a prominent beeswax, hazelnut, cacao, almond, patchouli, benzoin, amber, musk and cedar. The whole feeling is that of a grand ballroom feast presided by the patriarch in the book and film. Like the book and film, this is an uncompromising masterwork that truly requires understanding the artistic context of the perfume to fully appreciate. I am so happy to add this little heralded gem to my collection, since both the film and book are personal favorites of mine. Antonio has done an excellent job capturing the mood and feel of a decaying royalty in this perfume which probably captures how this stoic, brave and son of the soil smelt like. Astonishing!

Bought it in Catania, Sicily, in Antonio's boutique/boudoir. I think that this made a great difference: being there, in a land that exudes smells that tell stories, prompted an almost sublime associative memory to a fragrance that, in my humble opinion, is a great composition.

I picked this up as a test. I'm a lady. This is kinda manly, but the gourmand background makes it awesome! On me, I get lime and patchouli first, then oh so hazelnut and chocolate with a hint of cedar. It isn't for everyone, but I like it.

This is one of my favorites. You can really smell the fig and whiskey accords. Absolutely love it and highly recommend it.

I like the other scents of Alessandria. But not this one. Smells like a birhday party with waxed furnitures full of sweets and candy, sweaty kids and dogs, alcoholic parents. Milk and bisquits for a rainy Sunday. This is an odour, not a perfume. Or at least it is the odour of a middle aged woman, not of a man.

Booze, wood, nuts. Sounds great. But I mostly get loads of flowers and a very sweet background. Shame.

Raw alcohol to open and then that acrid chemical bomb I've come to associate with cetalox (one of the ambroxan formulas) since my unfortunate encounter with Superdose. I really wish these perfumers would pay up for individual amber, wood, and musk notes and stop stuffing this cheap, eyewatering horror into everything or at the least not make it so impossible to scrub off.

This has several notes that I like but maybe I should have known that the whiskey and hazelnut would kill it for me. There’s also a muddiness to this scent that is disappointing even after the whiskey dies down a lot. I really wouldn’t suggest this to anyone.

I'm getting Baraonda vibes from this, wafting on up from my wrist. This one is more boozy, in that the booziness actually smells like booze. Added to that, a more refined 'musk-booze' element comes to the fore, and if I'm being honest, I think I prefer this to Baraonda! The boozyness in this is like, 12 hours deep after a drinking session (or more), and you can smell the desperation, sadness and sheer self-destruction seeping out of a forty-something colleague coming in to work still half-cut, and miraculously enough, hungover. It's the weird 'essence' one exudes the morning after a heavy HEAVY night out on the piss. Of course, it's a stylised version of that, and it's much more pleasant than that, but it's in that ballpark...

Maybe its because I'm sicilian but this transports me to a Christmas party in my grandparents basement, sticky plastic tablecloths covering the washing machine where the desserts have been laid out. Warmness and drunkenness. Everyone's a little too loud but in a way that makes you feel enveloped and safe.

On my skin this smells like Campari tastes... herbs and spices, bitter red citrus, alcohol. Lovely. The dry down is very soapy for me though.

Warm and sour leather on Me. Nothing as gourmand at all, but..... It works!