Carthusia perfumes (I Profumi di Capri) is a brand based out of Italy. The story goes that the Carthusian monks at St. Giacomo in Capri had a surprise visit by Queen Giovanna d’Angio.  Off they went quickly and gathered as many beautiful flowers as they could, plopped them in an arrangement and presented them to the queen.  At the end of her visit, they removed the flowers, and the water, of course, had not been changed. The Prior noticed an aroma he had never noticed before! He investigated with another monk who had some education, and, voila!  This became the first perfume of Capri.

The other story is a little different and not so old.  The Prior of St. Giacomo found the old recipes for perfumes in 1948, shuffled them off to a chemist in Turin, who then started making the Carthusia perfumes.  They continue to make the perfumes in small batches with the finest raw materials.

Who knows?  The earliest perfume in the current company who makes them is from 1990, Fiori di Capri, and the perfumer who created that perfume is Laura Tonatto, so I’m not sure that their current crop of perfumes are the old recipes, but maybe!   

 Ligea la Sirena refers to the mythology of the sirens of the sea (mermaids) who called to Ulysses. It has notes of opoponax and mandarin.  Forget Me Not, released in 2012, draws its inspiration from the island Carthusia perfumes started from, Capri, with notes of lemon, lime, mandarin, orange, fig, mint, violet, eucalyptus, bucchu, cyclamen, hyacinth, jasmine, artemesia, vanilla and peach.

All the Carthusia perfumes have a crisp, refreshing quality, which is the hallmark of Italian perfumery.  These are the perfect perfumes if you aren’t interested in wearing something heavy or invasive, like in an office, or during the spring and summer when many want to wear a lighter fragrance.