Pronounce Firenze, Fi·renze (fē ren′dze):

Our Bella Divina collection is inspired by the flowers of Italy. We have chosen four of the most popular regions or cities of Italy that range from the canals of Venice to the cliffs of Palermo. Surely, you will find a destination that suits your Diva senses and sensibilities.

On each label there is un po’ (a little bit) about the flower and how it is significant to the city.

Let’s start with Firenze.

Wow. There is so much I want to share. I shall restrain myself, otherwise, this will be one long stream-of-consciousness post that no one could follow.

Firenze is tha capital of Tuscany. Firenze means Florence in Italian; Florentia in Latin. By both definitions, Firenze means flourish. Flourish, it did.

Florence is recognized as the cradle of the Renaissance. The area of Florence has produced such notables as Dante, Michaelangelo, Da Vinci and Brunelleschi and Galileo, to mention a few.

There is also one ruling family that dominates Florentine and Italian history, the Medicis. There is one woman that is a stand out in the Medici family history, Caterina de’ Medici. She married King Henri of France and bore 10 children, 3 to become Kings of France. Upon her marriage to the french King, she left Florence and brought with her many  artists, poets, dancers, a personal Italian chef and even her own perfumer, Rene de Florentin. Yes, the French can trace their great perfume industry back to the Italians and one item of clothing: Scented Gloves.

Although Catherine was not considered beautiful, she was known to have beautiful hands, of which, she was very proud. She kept them soft by wearing opera gloves. Aside from masking the curing process, the scented gloves also served the purpose of having something nice to smell as your hand covered your nose when crossing the less than sanitary streets of Paris.

Due to the tanning process, leather, in general, did not smell too good. So, they needed perfuming. In fact, today, the smell of leather isn’t actual leather at all. It  is the re-odorized smell we have come to identify as “leather.” Rene was the first perfumer to open up shop in Paris and soon everyone was flocking to his door for perfumes and scented goods.

The most popular fragrance was  woodbine, a fragrant honeysuckle flower; everyone in Florence wore it. Elegantly trumpet-shaped and sweet smelling, especially at night, the honeysuckle blossom was both common and special – like some of the most precious things in life, a spring day, good friends, the perfect glass of vino….a honeysuckle-scented breeze.

We hope you enjoy the essence of Italy: Firenze Collection:
Body Lotion, Body Wash, Body Butter, Body Polish, Lip Care, Bath Milk,
Gifts and Travels sets.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 4:12 pm and is filed under daily diva, product. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.