Acqua di Selva

Very similar to Pino Sylvestre and Agua Brava. Don't let that dissuade you or convince you they are one and the same. This has the same pine bedding that envelops a very beautiful mint note. And, it's the mint that sets this apart league's (for me) better. This is just nice to wear. It is perfect for warmer weather and just to smell awesome. It is breezy compared to Pino which is like a pure pine cone essential oil. Also, agua brava is close to this, but it doesn't have that light mint breezy element that makes this shine. I haven't seen a lot of people mention that minty-ness, and if I read a review about this fragrance I would want to know that distinguishing element. The mint gives it a cleanliness almost summery side that is just perfect to wear after a nice Proraso themed shave including the after shave. I always wanted a frag to wear on top of my Proraso after shave and this is perfect.

What a wonderful surprise. This was everything I had hoped it would be! I had no idea what to expect with this fragrance besides it being a citrus dominant fragrance, but the end result from top to bottom is just fantastic. A citrus mentholic smell opens up and lasts a fair bit until pine and cloves and other spices come in the background giving it a bit of a backbone. Almost a soapy yet gourmand like character that gives it a thick, dense, spicy feel but yet balanced with that lingering airy freshness of the citrus. The dry down is a strong vetiver with a mossy like feel I guess from the peat note. Gorgeous fragrance rivaling the like of Acqua Di Parma in my eyes. Analogous as an Italian Cousin of Dior Eau Sauvage EDT. The only reservation is that this gorgeous scent lasts about 4 hours then disappears, but with its stated Eau De Cologne concentration, I can’t complain.

Epic Journey Into the Bottled Yonder, 111 ------------------------------------------------------- Purchased August 2019 I already had Pino Silvestre and Agua Brava. This Acqua di Selva bottle is basically a cross between both. You get a breezy lemonade in midst of the conifer woodness. The basil upon overspray fires right up into a natural, cool and spicy scent before shortly calming down to let the rest of the body speak up. One of the most ACTUALLY FRESH scents of all. Very barbershop and manly. I've never been to a barbershop, in my part of the world that wasn't a thing after the '60s or '70s. Must be internet lingo. I had online contacts from all over the world and none of them said that when discussing off the shelf scents of all price points. But anyway why don't you own a bottle of this?

When I first discovered this Mediterranean Classic I can honestly say that I've never smelled anything quite so beautiful ever! That was 1987 and since then I've always had a bottle on hand every year since. Love the minty lemony piney foresty masculine scent that comes with it. I have many bottles old and new and I love them both but of course the ONLY drawback is the poor performance. I guess that's typical for an Eau de Cologne but I think I'd die and go to Heaven if a stronger version was made!! I can dream can't I??

My vintage 25ml Victor Acqua di Selva is a treasure. The camphorous pine steeped in lemon that is its fanfare may be repellent to those accustomed to creamy-dreamy pseudo-tonka pralines, but I live for it. The thyme and basil is delectable, clinging on to the hair on my forearms and causing me to nuzzle into myself. Over time, it grows spicier and damp-grassy-woody, and it just feels like the paragon of old world masculinity.

A great budget-friendly Italian classic. It smells like a classic Italian bar of lemon soap to me with a slight pine needle edge to it. It also has a fresh herbal feel from the basil. It doesn't smell like Pino Silvestre. I am not sure why people keep voting for that. It has a pine note, yes...but it doesn't smell like it. Read full reviews on my blog: musingsofafraghead.blogspot.com/

I just stumbled upon the best aftershave/perfume combo ever, which is saying a lot since I fb general I’m against mixing two fragrances assuming I like each of them. But this Acqua di selva mixes so well with Black afghano by Nasomatto. It gives the Black Afghano a much needed (imo) fresh crispness without any added sweetness adding some extra pine to it etc.

My bottle is from 2019 and don't know much about reformulation or twin brothers. I know this thing is of great quality for the price , nice basil and mint very aromatic, great for after shower with the pijama. Not a transparent cologne and I don't use it during summer. It has some density. Countryside rustic vibe eau de cologne :)

An old time classic with moderate sillage and good longevity.In the same league with Pino Silvestre and Silvestre (Victor).The perfume is green from the very beginning to the end.Thus i found it a little bit linear but that doesn't bother me. Acqua di Selva stands out with its originality and simplicity.

To Peter the Fragrance Lover Thank you for the review, and for answering my question: Is the Acqua di Selva Visconti di Modrone the same as the Acqua di Selva Victor? It was certainly one of my favorite mens colognes, and I would occasionally wear it. Green, yes, very green.

From a 400 ml splash bottle into a smaller spray bottle , used yesterday , stilshines today , waiting for a new shower . Fresh , aromatic , green , a memory brought up to date . Eternal .

The aftershave is very good, perfect even in current formulation

Great classic Italian barber shop cologne perfect for summer!

i loved this fragrance, it smells like a wet wood

Interesting blind purchase. Acqua Di Selva perhaps doesn't have longevity in its current formulation but it does have some impact. It is above all a clean, fresh scent with clear notes of spearmint, lemon, pine and thyme. I purchased 200 ml EDC which does not have a spray cap. The fact I have to cup my hand and shake the liquid into it reminds me of hair cuts at an Italian barbers in my youth. Impossible to use too much as the projection is rather limited by the scent's freshness and it drys down quickly to a pleasant, clean aroma of a pine forest in late afternoon. All in all a relatively cheap, splash it on fragrance especially suited to application after a cool shower on a hot day or after gym. Use it on hair too. I suspect my 200 ml will not last that long.

Beautiful, dry Italian-Alpine vegetation, in the morning breeze. Quite polarising, yet fresh fragrance. Performance is abismal, with 15-20 sprays you get good projection and sillage with 2 hours of longevity, but if you spray 5-7 like a "normal" person would, it lasts 20 minutes. Really like this one.

It's ok. I do like it...but I wish the dry down smelled like the opening then I would love it! Update 7-29-2023: I’ve been wearing this more often and enjoying more than before. I find myself drawn to it after a nice shower on a hot day. It’s just so refreshing with the opening.

Smells amazing. Lasts seconds! Top summer / autumn fragrance for a fleeting moment of piney, lemony freshness. Don't breathe in too hard though, you'll take all the smell away!

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the heavy musk note. And because of that, Acqua di Selva is the 1st blind buy in my Spring 2018 buying binge that I do not like.

A nice old-school Fougere, not very different from Pino Silvestre. Very green, fresh, with predominant notes of Pine and Lemon. Longevity: moderate Sillage: low

Not that persistent but absolutely fascinating sent. Lemon, rosemary, and dark notes from the woods. A timeless scent for self-confident men. Not for boys.

Released in 1949, this was originally known as Acqua di Selva by Victor. Today it's known as Acqua di Selva by Visconti Di Modrone. This is an intensely green aromatic fougère, with a strong burst of citrus, earthy and woodsy notes, pine, and something that to my sense of smell resembles menthol or spearmint. A very fresh, clean, and bracing fragrance. It reminds me slightly of the very cold and refreshing mountain air on a snow-covered mountain. A mild, subtle, and creamy green scent that sits close to the skin and gives me a slightly aloof, cool, and refreshing vibe. The problem with this fragrance is that 1) It lacks the complexity and opulence of other green fragrances. 2) It's linear and one-dimensional. 3) It smells of a mentholated, green-smelling mouthwash at the dentist; it's medicinal and intensely citrusy. Very cheap and affordable, and cheap-smelling too. Can be used for all four seasons, day and night, for informal events. It's an okay and wearable fragrance, but utterly forgettable. If I were to wear a cologne, I'd wear 4711. Final score: 5/10. A fun fact/trivia: This scent was used by the legendary British actor David Niven's character, Sir Charles Lytton, in the iconic movie "The Pink Panther" from 1963 at the Italian ski resort Cortina d'Ampezzo. The scent (the bottle) was shown in the bathroom cabinet in Sir Charles Lytton's hotel room. Since this was in 1963, the label on the huge green-colored 200-ml splash bottle in Sir Charles Lytton's bathroom cabinet says "Acqua di Selva, Victor, Milano, Italy."

Brisk aromatic opening with pine, citrus and vetiver. Kinda sour in a classic fougere way. Goes a little powdery, maybe a cypress note? It's airy and natural smelling, resembles "citrussy" pine needles. Turns grassy and leafy-green, kinda "Dewey." Some earthy, damp lavender on skin along with citrus, possibly lemon? Performance is OK, lasts a long time on the skin but sillage is soft. Masculine and mature but fine any time of year. Daytime. Solid for the price, gives off 80s ski-slope vibes...in a good way.

For a classic scented fragrance, I'm really not impressed. The scent is disappointing to me, I wanted to buy it but now I'm not so sure. I thought that it would have that Masculine Nostalgic Fougere scent, but I just wasn't getting that energy from this. So disappointed

I'm sorry. I cannot recommend this cologne based on my preferences. I so wanted to like this EDC from it's description and the positive comments and I finally pulled the trigger and ordered the Made in Italy version, 3.4 ounce bottle with a large plastic top/pump. This is not the "Victor" version (made in US), but really, just how much different/better can it be? I get the scent gist from this one: Some pine, citrus, and spice. When the ingredients are combined in AdS, they are not impressive and I'm not "wowed" in any way. I've worn it several times and I'm still disappointed. Sometimes your perception changes. AdS is just flat, and believe the longevity issues. It has very, very little in that area, and forget about silage. I get it. Many like it. I want to. I cannot.

Reminds me very much of Pino SIlvestre, which I also did not like. Soapy and powdery to the point of being musty, like old baby powder or a bar of soap you found in grandma's bathroom that's well past its "best by" date. There are many classic old-school fragrances which still hold up, then there's stuff like this that invokes images of nursing homes and adult diapers. It's a "no" from me.

Definitely an old man smell. There's something in it that is dusty, musty and even gives an old hairspray vibe. Not the cheap summer aromatic freshie I was looking for. It's being used as bathroom air freshener.

Just bought a bottle. It does not smell like it used to at all - not nice. Had to return it.

Quite a decent trash, some kind of tasteless sourness, but still better than Pino Silvestre.

Affordable old time classic. In the same vein as Pino Silvestre and Agua Brava. This fragrance sometimes reminds me of Byredo's Gypsy Water, minus the quality of course.... and the Sandalwood/Vanilla/Amber dry down.

New production bottle. Opening is passable, but as it dries it gives me pissy grandpa in "the home" vibes sadly..

Acqua di Selva is a traditional barbershop fragrance in Italy, and was first released all the way back in 1949. Its scent profile is similar to another Italian barbershop classic known as Pino Silvestre, but Acqua di Selva is colder in feel and less filled with warm aromatic herbs as is the case with Pino Silvestre. As for the scent itself, Acqua di Selva smells like a wet green fougere mix of mainly spearmint, pine needles, basil, and lemon to my nose, with hints of rosemary, vetiver, and clary sage. I also detect the wet bog-like peat accord underlying the entire blend. It basically smells like the essence of a cool pond during the autumn in a pine forest, or perhaps the idealized version of a swamp/bog. I don't get any thyme in this, while Pino Silvestre is thyme-dominant. As far as scents go, I slightly prefer Acqua di Selva since it reminds me of Acqua di Parma's Colonia Club (one of my favourite fragrances), but the sillage/projection on it is subtle as compared to Pino Silvestre where the projection is quite substantial. As for longevity, this barely lasts two hours (while Pino Silvestre lasts over 4 hours on my skin). Overall it's nice but extremely fleeting (but cheap at $20 a bottle), and I will probably end up using this as an after-gym fragrance. 4/5 EDIT: This is a really great natural smelling Italian lemon and mint fragrance with green notes in the background. It doesn't have much staying power but while it's there it's very beautiful. I use it like I use 4711 Eau de cologne, as a refresher throughout the day or to combine with my scent of the day when I'm going out. Very nice.

Revisiting this one after a few years, post Covid. Since getting Covid, I've been engaging in "aroma therapy" of sorts to rejuvenate my olfactory sense, which was dulled by the virus. This entails sniffing quality essential oils in relatively high concentrations, and I've learned that most of them smell perfectly fine to me, perhaps because they're natural. Thus far, a month into the aftermath, I've noticed that natural materials tend to smell fine, while "chemical" materials smell a bit off and weak. This brings me to Acqua di Selva, a fragance that I remember as smelling fairly natural back when I started out with it. Coupled with the recent revelation that peppermint is the easiest note for me to smell post Covid, I wanted to revisit and see how true to memory it is. Turns out it's pretty true to memory. Indeed, the mint notes are vivid, the pine notes are also fairly vivid, and although at this point it doesn't smell as strong as I remember (probably the Covid), it otherwise smells exactly as I remember it: excellent, a minty proto-Drakar Noir that smells way more natural than stuff five times its price.

Addendum: My bottle sat for 2 years. The overall impact is still petroleum. Smell your potential bottle before you buy. There might be clones out there, lord knows why since it's a bargain fragrance. Original review: I bought the bottle in 2019, it has a plastic sticky label on the bottom: Eau de cologne, Made in Italy, Tenuta la Carignana. Maybe mine is counterfeit. It has nothing on a good old fashioned citrus-based Spanish or Italian cologne. I can't see how anyone would bother to counterfeit this, and my bottle looks exactly like the bottle on all websites. So... I smell light herbs and petroleum. It's not disgusting, but it's very light. It has ZERO to do with Pino Silvestre, a scent I've been buying and enjoying for 2 decades, and have never noticed damage from reformulations. I guess I'll make a point of finding Acqua in a shop to test if this is really all that remains of a beloved scent. I kinda hope I got ripped off because really, there is no there there.

I got the US-made version which I'm told is the cheaper smelling one. It's not a total love for me, but it's still a nice Spring fragrance to freshen up and enjoy the beautiful aromas of greens and woods this time of year. Sure, it's somewhat generic, and the only pants dropped from this scent will be your own when nature calls haha. All in all, Acqua di Selva is a rather enjoyable casual fragrance with average or below average longevity. I added it to ny collection mainly because it has a cult following in Italy among older school Italians... similar to the long time following of Brut and Old Spice here in the U.S. TIP: Add 1-2 drops of Wintergreen Essential Oil in a 10ml decant of Acqua di Selva and it turns into a glorious minty masculine cologne. It makes a huge difference in the composition as it goes from an average scent to one of the freshest masculine aromas I ever smelled.

Acqua di Selva is similar to Pino Silvestre, and I consider it a "proto" Drakkar Noir, in the sense that it's mostly about citrus (lemon) and pine needles. The difference is that Victor's scent is noticeably mintier, and more fougere-like, with a camphoraceous opening salvo of peppermint and lavender blended in with the lemon oil. As it dries down, oakmoss and vetiver intermingle with basil, thyme, and pine, until an hour brings out a dry toasted tobacco and mossy vetiver base. An Italian masterpiece, with undeniably classic Mediterranenean barbershop flair. Expect two hours of longevity max, but at its inexpensive price point and generously sized bottles, frequent reapplication in summer heat is standard practice. I still prefer Pino Silvestre by a hair, but this is right in its league, and arguably the more interesting of the two.

I've got a vintage bottle, the one with the built-in spray head. I don't really get major "barbershop" from this, though there is a touch of it lurking somewhere in the background. It's more of an aromatic, but it goes beyond that, though it has that kind of smeared-out quality one finds in many of these vintage greats. If a niche company tried to make something similar, there likely would be less notes and they would be more legible, but an obnoxious-smelling white musk might be included as well. This is entirely natural-smelling, though I do understand the comments that it has a kind of sour element. If that doesn't bother you, you like the notes listed, and you don't mind that those notes get smeared out a bit, this is probably for you.

Since I mentioned Acqua di Selva in another review I just made, might as well put my two cents in. I LOVE this on my husband. I wish he'd wash his undershirts in it. Maybe it's my association with our dating days back in New York when it was cold and Christmassy outside. When he wears this fragrance it reminds me of handsome happy holiday times. Woodsy, resiny, fresh, piney. Don't know if the younger generation would like it: Pretty old school. Also very cheap, so worth a try if you want to smell like a handsome dad. It's along the lines of Old Spice: It just works, and don't let the price tag dissuade you about its charm. It remains a strong and snuggly, herbally and piney my-guy type of scent.

this is a great gem from the past, with a herbal and mossy base, with some "minty notes" in the background, the longevity is acceptable for an Eau de Cologne, it lasts 6 plus hours in my skin, and the projection is for about 1 and half hours, the scent of a "barbershop cologne" can be noticeable if the people around you are close enough, then they can smell the cologne on you, this is a wonderful cologne from the past, a super manly and retro scent for mature, confident sigma male that do not want to catch the attention of people around but who wants to leave a trail of his presence in the people's mind.

I discovered Acqua di Selva in 1960. It was made by Victor. Wife loved it. Everybody loved it. Sometime in the mid 90s it was taken over by Visconti di Modrone and the fragrance was changed from one that everyone loved to one that no one noticed and that lasts for about two minutes after it’s applied! Because in the UK no one is now interested in it, it is extremely hard to find. Why would any company turn a great product into one completely mediocre? Madness!

I already have the Pino Silvestre and the Agua Brava which I like! But I wanted the Acqua Di Selva too. This is slightly weaker than the other two and slightly more basil + lemon zest. What I really like on this it is the very good atomizer and the very convenient grip of the bottle (100ml spray). Definitely summer cologne, it is not the greatest of its category but it is good for the honour of the old times!

I like this one a lot. The initial herbal blast is breathtaking - but don't inhale, for you might cough. Afterwards, it's mainly fresh herbal-citrusy. Slightly sweet, refreshing, not cloying. Sprayed on clothes, it lasts for a few hours. Then again, last time I wore it, my partner asked, "why does it smell like ammonia here?" That, I take, is a sign that it is not universally appreciated.

My father's signature cologne. As a child I found it very overpowering, like "Why does he have to wear this old-world, extremely formal-smelling stuff?" I think though that he liked its piercing qualities, as when people talked to him they got a strong impression of him and knew he meant business even if he was sweating it out.

Cordial, fresh, conventional, classy. Pine and mint freshness on top with slight earthy undertones. A forest vibe - and remindful of Proraso yet more so opulent with a stronger hit in the opening. Very good considering the modest price tag.

@ShotsK I very much appreciate your alliteration and psychological allegory! Anyway, this is a nice fresh fragrance for men. Is it discontinued?

A retro classic. This is what I imagine Don Draper of MAD MEN wore. Traditionally masculine and very chic.