The Tamesis
“Today’s luxury customers are less willing to make big claims and demand more quality. In the niche fragrance space, customers understand that loud performance does not always mean super quality. The new generation of customers understands that quality is in the ingredients and their extracts,” said Bergamaschi, who emphasizes the brand’s olfactory technology through in-store experiences and customer service, as well as through partnerships with companies such as Italian luxury carmaker Maserati and French restaurant Le Petit Maison. and British designer Samuel Ross.
In 1916, Acqua di Parma founder Baron Carlo Magnani created Colonia, an eau de toilette with notes of lemon, lavender, rose, rosemary and patchouli, in contrast to the powdery and floral French perfumes on the market at the time. Today, the same scent remains a bestseller and has expanded into a separate line of different variations, from musky and woody to fresh citrus.
Another product that performed well was the Blu Mediterraneo range, inspired by the charm of the Italian Mediterranean and named after the islands of Amalfi, Capri, Sicily and Panaria. “What we’re seeing from our customers, especially the younger demographic, is they’re experimenting with the idea of layering fragrances,” Bergamaschi said.
Over the past six years, the brand has gained new audiences across Asia, the Middle East and North America as consumers experimented with brands and fragrances during the coronavirus pandemic. Sales are often driven by younger customers and there is a balanced gender representation in fragrances, two missions that Eau de Parma has been steadily achieving as it positions itself as a unisex fragrance brand in emerging markets. In Europe, the brand is widely associated with masculinity, but Bergamaschi clarified that its overall demographic split is 50-50.
The big move at hand is to bring Italy to other regions without it becoming a gimmick. Bergamaschi turned to hospitality, a universal language among Italians that can be easily translated anywhere. Acqua di Parma opened a pop-up café in Milan in 2022, followed by Yellow Café in Seoul in June 2025, and another pop-up café within Bloomingdale’s in The Dubai Mall from September to November 2025, a café experience where Italian coffee is served in yellow and white ceramic cups, while each table is decorated with the brand’s candles and diffusers.
