{"id":73726,"date":"2018-09-27T13:09:49","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T11:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/a-history-of-cologne\/"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:49:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T16:49:11","slug":"a-history-of-cologne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/a-history-of-cologne\/","title":{"rendered":"A History of Cologne"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”3″ top_padding=”2″ bottom_padding=”1″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ column_width_pixel=”900″][vc_custom_heading text_size=”h1″ text_height=”fontheight-1-6″ separator=”yes” sub_reduced=”yes”]From Italian monastery to society Parisian boutiques, Cologne had a European fortune: its creator\u2019s audacity plus vicissitudes of royal wars drew the conquest of this fragrance in all courts of Europe. Like its most fervent adept, the Emperor Napoleon I.[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_custom_heading text_size=”h4″]From Tuscany to Northern Europe.
\n[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text]Bien na\u00eff celui qui porterait sur l\u2019eau de Cologne un regard complaisant\u00a0; comme souvent l\u2019histoire est bien plus riche qu\u2019il n\u2019y para\u00eet. Elle d\u00e9bute \u00e0 Florence, dans le prosp\u00e8re XVIe si\u00e8cle toscan o\u00f9 r\u00e8gne la maison M\u00e9dicis. \u00c0 deux pas de la basilique Santa Maria Novella, un couvent de Dominicains dispose d\u2019un jardin de plantes m\u00e9dicinales \u00e0 partir duquel les fr\u00e8res excellent dans l\u2019\u00e9laboration d\u2019essences, de potions, de pommades et de baumes.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”73592″ caption=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″][vc_column_text]Na\u00efve, one who would take a complacent look at the cologne; as often History is much richer than it seems. It begins in Florence, in the prosperous 18th century Tuscan where reigns the Medici family. A stone’s throw from the Santa Maria Novella Basilica, a Dominican convent has a medicinal garden from which the friars excel in the elaboration of essences, potions, ointments and balms.<\/p>\n

On the occasion of the departure for France Court of the very refined Catherine de M\u00e9dicis (1519 – 1589), the Dominican monks elaborate especially for her a perfume thanks to an innovation which will initiate to the birth of Cologne. “Water of the Queen<\/em>” with bergamot scent is not, as was the custom, made from vinegar but from alcohol. The intuition of holy men will pay off … but not for them! It is Giovanni Paolo Feminis (1660 – 1736) who will benefit from it. Born near Milan, he invented, from Water of the Queen, a hesperidic blend, which he foresaw the success. Our Italian moved to Cologne to commercialise this water he called “Acqua Mirabilis” and which concentrates all the mythical perfumes of an idealized Italy: bergamot, lemon, lavender and rosemary awaken the senses with their freshness and poetically evoke the Tuscan sun. Success is fast and his fortune is made. Rich but not eternal, Giovanni Paolo Feminis bequeaths the secret of his recipe to a member of his family so that his business remains.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]