Azzurro di Capri
Bruno Acampora (2016)

This for the oil, so superstrength!

It starts as a very beautiful, very sweet orange floral, with huge depth as well. This is not my usual beat and seemed almost overpowering at first. It settles down a little later but the orange note remains fresh and strong throughout with some very sultry jasmine. The whole effect is that of a sumptuous and highly scented garden. It manages to carry this off without going too cloying. It stays very fresh throughout the day - by fresh I mean very floral fresh, something like a turbocharged Tommy Girl type floral, rather than a green citrus Cristalle type. Unlike the other BAs it could be a daytime fragrance, and brings to mind white jeans and sea breezes, but impeccable white jeans with silk t-shirts and scarves rather than crumpled linen. I am not a white jeans person (they'd last 2 minutes!) but I still like this enough that I'll wear it from time to time.

This is a review of the extrait version of Azzurro di Capri, which – God love Bruno Acampora – is the weaker of the two formulas available. This is essentially a classed-up version of a classic citrus & neroli summertime fragrance but, if you are looking for a Bermuda-Bahama-come-on-pretty-mama Beach Blanket Bingo confection, look elsewhere. Befitting it geographic reference, this is indeed a sunny feel-good fragrance but one gone totally luxe.

The citrus is orange flesh rather than high-pitched lemon. The neroli, with equally bright muguet grace notes, plays off of a rich jasmine that is cut from the same entrancing cloth as Acampora's potent 'Jasmin T'. The florals are soon enveloped, but never supplanted, by velvety amber and a musk that is cleaner and brighter than Acampora's trademark 'Musc' but generous nonetheless. Light wood and patchouli surprisingly add only a vitreous structural element. The reference to the color azure in the fragrance name does not portend something akin to the great suite that Duke Ellington performed at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, “Dimuendo and Crescendo in Blue.” Rather, the development of Acampra's blue of Capri, while not linear, is surely modest, gentle, and slow. Performance, on the other hand, is spectacular, never overbearing, perpetually uplifting.

Azzurro di Capri will be a staple in my warm weather rotation from now on. At moments I might wish for a touch more of musk funk in the mix or some other element that creates some counterpoint but, on balance, they likely got this enchanting formula perfect the way it is. Wearing this I can totally picture myself back in Capri's Piazzetta for the relaxed nightly ceremony of a pre-dinner drink, conversation, and people watching on one of those evenings when the air is softer than satin. As is known to perfumistas, this time of day is referred to as the blue hour (which by the way Tennessee Williams noted in his Memoirs (1975) is “so flattering to blonds”). Like Capri itself, this fragrance is casual extravagance. I don't really know whether the perfume references the ravishing sky that bends over Capri or the island's famed Grotta Azzurra. As for the latter, Twain wrote (1869), "Let a man jump in, and instantly he is cased in an armor more gorgeous than ever kingly Crusader wore." For a similar effect, try two spritzes of Azzurro di Capri.

It is a very fresh scent, very good to the summer. The top notes are mandarin, bergamot and jasmine; heart notes: orange blossom, lily and patchouli; the basenotes: cedar, musk and amber.
Jasmine and citrus notes are those that immediately strike you but on the skin remains the characteristic odor of musk and amber typical of Acampora fragrances. Despite being a fragrance with delicate notes it is still very persistent. I put a few drops of oil in the morning before going out and returning in the evening I could still feel the "cool" of summer.