Orto Parisi

Created by Alessandro Gualtieri, the perfumer also known for Nasomatto, Orto Parisi is a deeply personal project inspired by his grandfather Vincenzo Parisi and the garden of his childhood. The name references that garden, or orto, where soil, plants, decay, growth, and even human waste existed together as part of the natural cycle of life.

At the center of the house is Gualtieri's belief that the human body is itself a garden and its smells are a reflection of the soul. Rather than hiding the animalic, earthy, sweaty, mineral, or sometimes unsettling aspects of scent, Orto Parisi embraces them. Fragrances such as Terroni, Megamare, Stercus, Boccanera, and Seminalis explore the tension between attraction and repulsion, beauty and decay, cleanliness and instinct.

Gualtieri creates the fragrances himself and deliberately keeps many of their formulas and traditional note pyramids mysterious, encouraging people to experience the perfume rather than being told exactly what they should smell. At its core, Orto Parisi is perfumery stripped of politeness: raw, emotional, instinctive, and fascinated by what it means to smell truly alive.