Acqua di Giò: Armani, an island and the sea

An island that did not win him at once

Giorgio Armani did not fall for Pantelleria at first sight. As he later told it, the volcanic island between Sicily and Africa struck him as barren, surly and rough. There were no comforts and no sandy beaches, the rocks left bruises, and he could not wait to leave. Then he discovered Cala Gadir, where there were three dammusi (the island's lava-stone houses), and he bought them.

Over the years the property grew by four more dammusi, seven in all, and came to include 200 palm trees and a vineyard for his own wine, Oasi. For more than forty years he kept coming back to the island and spent part of his summers there. Strange as it sounds, he wrote, the sea is not a priority on Pantelleria. What plays the central role is the island as a whole: the light, the black and rugged volcanic rock, the people who live there.

From the island to the sea

The Italian press ties the birth of Acqua di Giò to this island. The fragrance came out in 1996, composed by Alberto Morillas. The 1996 eau de toilette came to epitomise the decade's taste for aquatic fragrances.

The brand describes the Acqua di Giò line as the essence of water and of man's connection with it. The advertising keeps returning to the same images, men in the sea, light, rock and wind.

What the perfumers still smell in the street

Morillas was born in Seville and joined the Swiss fragrance house Firmenich in 1970. He has shaped every version of Acqua di Giò since the beginning. The fragrance still surprises him, more than 25 years after he composed it.

'It doesn't belong to me, but I smell an emotion,' he says. 'It's a formula that works so well, with material elements that were so avant-garde.' Another perfumer, Jérôme Epinette, says that when he smells it in the street, 'it remains exceptional.'

The line since 2012

In 2012 came Acqua di Giò Essenza, an eau de parfum. The photographer Bruce Weber photographed and directed the model Simon Nessman for it. Sixteen years after the original, Armani said that Pantelleria was 'once again' the main inspiration behind it.

The line then grew with other versions: Profumo, Profondo and Parfum. In 2022 the brand presented a new eau de parfum with a refillable bottle. Each size (40, 75 and 125 ml) can be unscrewed and refilled at home from a separate 150 ml bottle. The new cap is dark wood, with less plastic than the old one.

Inside, the formula changed too. The brand says it adds Yodanol, a molecule new to this fragrance that only Firmenich can use, to make the freshness last. The formula draws on green mandarin from Calabria, clary sage from Provence, patchouli from Guatemala and vetiver from Haiti. Since 2024 the face of the line has been the British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson.