VENICE — Italy will have a new perfume museum on Nov. 1, when the Palazzo Mocenigo reopens after a 10-month renovation.
The palazzo, site of the city’s Center for Studies of the History of Textiles and Costume, already holds a fashion collection that includes 20,000 pieces of clothing and textiles dating to early Christian times as well as 6,000 books on fashion.
Perfume is being added to the museum’s focus to highlight the city’s role in the origins of the industry.
“The modern perfume industry really began in Venice in the 10th century,” said Marco Vidal, the commercial director for Mavive, a 112-year-old local perfume company that is backing the project in conjunction with the Venice Civic Museums Foundation. To mark the event, the company will open a flagship store in Venice and introduce a “Merchant of Venice” collection of perfumes and personal care products.
The new perfume galleries — four rooms and an educational area — will include a display that allows visitors to smell ingredients, a collection of more than 2,500 flasks that date to 2,000 B.C. from the German perfume company Drom, and works like “Notandissimi Secreti de l’Arte Profumatoria,” a 1555 Venetian publication thought to be the first manual in the West that scientifically cataloged cosmetic formulas.
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