Tourists with a passion for fashion who visited Palazzo Mocenigo, the Venice-based Museum and Study Center of the History of Fabrics and Costumes (one of Irenebrination's favourite institutions), know that some of its spaces are dedicated to the art of fragrances and perfumes.
One of the rarest pieces on display is a fascinatingly rare Perfume Maker's Organ, an instrument used to invent perfumes, employing the over two hundred essential oils contained in the glass phials and arranged in the shape of an amphitheatre on its surface.
There are also displays and wooden tables covered with Murano glass bowls and bottles, filled with incenses, spices and oils.
The most fascinating section features an entire laboratory of a perfumer: this space looks a bit like an alchemist's workshop, with books about plants, glass vials, oils, pastes, powders and liquids.
On a table there is a wooden mould filled with white soap, next to dishes and bowls displaying samples of vegetable or animal substances (used to create unique scents for people, things, environments and clothes...), and devices to extract essential oils from flowers.
If you happen to be in Venice tomorrow and you like the history of fragrances, you shouldn't miss a special event organised at Palazzo Mocenigo: Alessandra Schiavon, Chief Curator of the State Archive in Venice, will host a free lecture (at 5.00 pm) entitled "Women and Perfumes in Venice Between Trade, Work and Courts".
Rather than focusing on more superficial themes linked with beauty, Schiavon will use the precious documents and manuscripts preserved in the State Archive to recount stories of local women whose lives ended up being linked with the history of spices and perfumes.
Fantina Polo, daughter of the Venetian explorer Marco Polo, will be one of the protagonists of the lecture: her husband stole from Fantina the estate her father had left her, but she got it back in 1366 after a long fight against her husband's family and the magistrates.
Fantina's story will be followed by another adventurous tale of three women who created in 1373 a company that produced perfumes linked with a business dedicated to exporting essences and essential oils.
Apart from being a great chance to explore the spaces and rooms of Palazzo Mocenigo, the event offers therefore the unmissable chance of getting to know the local history of fragrances and the personal stories of strong, stubborn and independent pioneering women.
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