The Merchant of Venice turns 10
With a Grand Gala at Teatro La Fenice and a new fragrance inspired by Maria Callas
An anniversary celebrated at Teatro La Fenice in Venice which takes us back to the sixteenth century atmosphere in which the lagoon city was nicknamed "La Splendida", at the center of the world for fashion, entrepreneurship, glamour... and for the perfume industry.
Buon Compleanno The Merchant of Venice!
In long dresses and tuxedos, the partners of The Merchant of Venice from all over the world parade through the splendid Sale Apollinee of Teatro La Fenice, ambassadors of Venetian perfumery who have come to the Lagoon to celebrate with the Vidal family and their team the first 10 years from the foundation of the brand.
The Merchant of Venice debuted, in fact, in 2013 from an idea by Marco Vidal to promote the perfumery art and Venetian manufacturing tradition through the valorization of its history and artisan excellence.
Born in Venice, ours is a company set in an extraordinary territory, a treasure of beauty and bearer of centuries-old traditions that we want to help defend, primarily through the protection of craftsmanship, an essential cultural heritage for a civil society.
(Marco Vidal, CEO The Merchant of Venice)
A unique company in this sense in Italy, which was born from the passion of a family with over 120 years of history behind it from the first soap factory founded in 1900. Having become famous in the 1950s with the Pino Silvestre brand, it was refounded by Massimo Vidal in 1986 with the new name Mavive (an acronym for Massimo Vidal Venezia) until it became one of the great international players in the perfumery sector, of which The Merchant of Venice is the line dedicated to high-end fragrances.
To celebrate this important anniversary which, as Marco Vidal underlines, “is not intended to be just a celebration, but rather a springboard towards new, ambitious projects”, The Merchant of Venice has renovated the interiors of its flagship store in Campo San Fantin in Venice, certainly one of the most beautiful boutiques in the world, and launched a new perfume, Maria Callas, dedicated to the Divine who debuted at the Teatro La Fenice with Tristan and Isolde.
In 10 years many fragrances have decreed the success of the brand, which have corresponded to just as many cultural patronage initiatives that have consecrated the Vidal family as one of the main actors inspired by a Renaissance soul in the cultural growth and protection of Venice.
Many are unique projects in the world. Such as having created together with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and the Municipality of Venice a Perfume Museum inside Palazzo Mocenigo, or having opened Bottega Cini, a concept store which is a meeting point between various artisan arts of the Serenissima, and Studium, a bookshop with an Olfactory Library where the famous perfume courses are held by Joan Giacomin, an expert in the art of perfumery and historian of the subject, author among others of the delightful booklet Le petit livre du maquillage à Venise.
Many different experiences, which we invite you to try one by one, because if “the soul of men is their smell”, as Patrick Süskind wrote in The Perfume, then we should all embrace the world of perfumery art and become fervent ambassadors, it goes without saying, of the Venetian one.
The Secret
Since the 11th century, Venetian merchants have been importing rare and precious goods from the East. The story tells of a Byzantine princess who, to marry the Doge Domenico Selvo, arrived in Venice in 1060 accompanied by a rich trousseau of makeup and ointments. Thus began the epic of perfume in the Lagoon area which had a central role in its production, so much so that it was here that the modern concept of fragrance as a liquid mixture was born, thanks to the intuition of diluting the oily balm that was used until the Middle Ages to perfume yourself with a spirit.
