Casamorati:Bologna's perfume house, a queen and Mefisto

A soap factory in Bologna, a queen with a gold pin and a fragrance called Mefisto: Casamorati is a 19th-century perfume house that vanished for some sixty years. Since 2009 its scents are back, in the original bottle and with the old double C. We tell you who Claudio Casamorati was, what the old labels say and which Casamorati fragrance suits you.

Who is behind Casamorati?

It all began with a soap maker with a taste for luxury. In Bologna, Claudio Casamorati ran the C. Casamorati perfume factory, which produced bath soaps and fragrances and, according to the brand, won numerous awards at national and international exhibitions. On 17 April 1888 he registered the intertwined double C as his trademark, and it still adorns every bottle today.

That same year Bologna showed itself to the world: the Esposizione Emiliana opened on 6 May 1888 in the presence of the royal family and ran for 189 days. As the house tells it, Claudio Casamorati met Queen Margherita of Savoy there, and she gave him a golden pin. Her morning toilette supposedly could not do without Casamorati. Whether that is true can no longer be checked, but the story explains why so many of the house's scents sound like a royal court: Regio, Dama Bianca, Gran Ballo.

Around the middle of the 20th century the house ran into financial trouble and the factory had to close. For more than sixty years the fragrances disappeared from the market. Then came Sergio Momo, who founded the perfume house Xerjoff in Turin. He acquired the rights and brought Casamorati back in 2009, with the original bottle and the original logo. Anyone who knows Xerjoff will recognise the signature at once: read how the Turin house works in our portrait Xerjoff from Turin.

1856 or 1888: how old is Casamorati really?

This is where it gets exciting. Today the brand tells of the year 1888, the year of the trademark registration and the great exhibition. But the old prints that Casamorati itself shows say something else: "Casa fondata nel 1856", house founded in 1856. Probably both are right and simply count different things: 1856 the company, 1888 the brand with the double C. We cannot prove that, so we stay with the honest answer: the labels say 1856, today's brand says 1888.

A second find from the archive is an advertisement for "Acqua Felsina Rossa Casamorati". It opens with the cry "Mamme!!" and recommends the water for mouth, skin and bath all at once. It also boasts of 70 awards and lists the prices: 14.50 lire for an eighth bottle, 85 lire for a litre. Advertising back then was still delightfully immodest. Felsina, by the way, is the Etruscan name of Bologna, so the city is already in the product name.

Which Casamorati fragrances do we carry?

Eleven fragrances, all Eau de Parfum, mostly in 30 and 100 ml. Here is a selection, sorted from powdery-sweet to fresh-classic:

ItalicaAlmond, milk, saffron, toffeefrom € 120 Dama BiancaIris, jasmine, violet, vanillafrom € 110 Dolce AmalfiQuince, cardamom, incense, tonkafrom € 110 Gran BalloMandarin, berries, gardenia, caramelfrom € 110

MefistoLemon, lavender, iris, sandalwoodfrom € 110 Mefisto GentiluomoBergamot, lavender, iris, cedar€ 270 1888Green pepper, clove, ylang, sandalwoodfrom € 110 Quattro PizziRum, davana, tuberose, tobaccofrom € 110

Prices live from our shop, as of 26 Oct 2026. Fiero, Regio and Levar del Sole as well as all sizes can be found under Casamorati.

The old formulas: Mefisto and Mefisto Gentiluomo

Mefisto is the heart of the house. According to Xerjoff it is one of the scents that have remained almost unchanged for over a century; Casamorati originally launched it around the turn of the century, and for women. Today it smells like a very elegant barber: lemon from Calabria, grapefruit and lavender, iris and rose in the heart, sandalwood and amber below. Its brother Mefisto Gentiluomo, according to the brand, goes back to a scent created in 1888 for Italian barbershops and stays fresher and more citrusy, with cedar in the base.

Sweet and powdery: Italica, Dama Bianca, Dolce Amalfi, Gran Ballo

Italica is inspired by almond paste, and that is exactly how it smells: almond and milk, warmed by saffron, with toffee and vanilla underneath. If you love gourmands, you will find more candidates in Gourmand perfume: 7 scents good enough to eat, and why so many people love vanilla is explained in Vanilla in perfume. Dama Bianca is the powdery lady in the white dress: Florentine iris, jasmine, violet and lilac on sandalwood and vanilla. Dolce Amalfi combines quince and cardamom with incense, clove and tolu balsam. Gran Ballo recalls the aristocratic balls of the 19th century, with berries, gardenia and a base of caramel and amber.

Spicy, woody, floral: 1888, Fiero, Regio, Quattro Pizzi, Levar del Sole

1888 is a tribute to Tuscan leather tanning, with green pepper, clove, coriander and ylang-ylang on Mysore sandalwood and patchouli. How leather gets into a perfume at all is explained in Leather in perfume. Fiero is citrusy and green with mint and vetiver, Regio a bouquet of lavender, bergamot, Damask rose and white musk. The two youngest from 2024: Quattro Pizzi with rum, davana, coconut, tuberose and tobacco, and Levar del Sole, the "sunrise", for which, according to the brand, rose petals from Kannauj are picked by hand just after sunrise. Read more about this flower in Rose in perfume.

Which Casamorati suits you?

A little decision aid from our boutique, based on what you usually like to wear:

Smell first, then fall in love

Casamorati sometimes smells like an almond patisserie, sometimes like a barbershop, sometimes like a ballroom. Which side suits you is something only your own skin can show. With every bottle from 30 ml we include a 2 ml sample of the same fragrance; from an order value of € 90, four more 2 ml samples of your choice, while stocks last (note your preferred scents in the order comment). From an order value of € 200, standard shipping to Austria and Germany is free.

Or visit us in our boutique in Bregenz and smell your way through the Belle Époque. We introduce another Italian house with a great history in Pantheon Roma: Raphael, the Fornarina and scents from Rome.

Your 4D Outfitters team, Bregenz

Sources: Xerjoff: The story of Casamorati · Casamorati: Welcome · Xerjoff: Mefisto · Xerjoff: 1888 · Xerjoff: Quattro Pizzi · Fragrantica: Casamorati · Parfumo: Casamorati · Artribune: Expo Bologna 1888 · Wikipedia: Palazzina dei Quattro Pizzi · Wikipedia: Margherita of Savoy · Wikipedia: Bologna