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NIKOS
@sikelia 2023 - created by hifly.it
THE SEA
History
NIKOS
Legend has it that around the year 1230 there lived in Messina a prodigious fisherman, handsome and strong, named Cola.
The sea was his whole life, his passion, and exploring the silent and immense depths made him freer and more alive.
He was so passionate about the sea that he spent whole days swimming and fishing, even giving up marrying Graziella, a local girl, madly in love with him. During his raids, he got to know sweet-eyed nymphs and sinuous bewitching sirens who caressed him with their harmonious song, guiding him to the Coral gardens where the most beautiful mother-of-pearl flowers grew and even to their iridescent palaces.
But this passion of his for the sea and the abyss was not well seen by his mother, because many times the boy had the habit of throwing the catch back to the sea, especially as one day the desperate woman cursed him by pronouncing this sentence: «May you become like a fish!" No sooner said than done!
Over time his skin became increasingly scaly, his hands and feet like flippers.
At that time Federico II was king of Sicily, great monarch of the Swabian House, lover of the arts and sciences, himself a humanist scholar and a very sensitive poet. The king, having heard of Cola's amazing feats, wanted to put him to the test, promising him great gifts and the hand of the princess, his daughter, if he passed difficult trials.
King Federico, from the Royal Palace, threw a golden cup for the first time into the stretch of sea below, inciting Colapesce to fish it out. The valiant fisherman, diving into the deep sea waters, resurfaced, with great skill, bringing the thrown golden cup back to the king.
It was then the turn of the royal crown, which was also thrown into the sea and recovered. It was on that occasion that the king was informed by the boy of what he had seen in the abyss.
Colapesce, in fact, told him: "Majesty, there are three columns on which our island rests: two are intact and strong, the other is wavering, because the fire consumes it, between Catania and Messina".
The sovereign wanted to know what this fire was like and demanded that the boy bring him some. Cola replied that he could not carry fire in his hands. But the sovereign, still not satisfied, challenged him for the third time... a decisive test that would have allowed Colapesce to have the hand of his daughter Costanza as a reward, by throwing the girl's ring into the water.
Colapesce dived and when he reached the seabed he remained in the middle of that fire to support (as he still does) that ill-arranged column, renouncing love and wealth in order to support it, protecting Sicily from its destruction and if the ground between Messina and Catania shakes a bit, it's only because Colapesce changes the side of his shoulder.
The legend brings us back, perhaps, to the strong seismic seismicity of the area, to the unconditional love of the Sicilians for the sea and to the dependence of life on water ... it is no coincidence that water envelops human beings ever since they swim in the amniotic fluid .
Marine scent
NIKOS
Inspired by the legend of Colapesce, aldehydic perfume inspired by the smell of the sea and the breeze carried by the wind on the surface.
NIKOS
Top notes:
Bergamot (synthetic): noble ingredient, chosen for its ambivalence between citrus and wood. It gives fresh and enveloping notes mixing perfectly with the marine.
• Pine: element chosen for the strong presence of the pine tree along the entire Sicilian coast. Gives resinous and spicy hints.
• Salty: Marine air, sensation recreated with marine aldehydic ingredients.
Heart notes:
• Aldehydes: elements of high olfactory impact, they give powerful notes that unite and push the top notes;
• Sage: ingredient chosen to complete the scent given by Bergamot and give it greater persistence in the evolution of the fragrance.
• Iris scent (synthetic): inspired by the legend of Colapesce, flower symbol of positive feelings and tenacity. Gives floral body.
Base notes:
• Ambergris: element strongly linked to the sea, important base note;
• Marine water: combination of several elements that evoke the scent of salty sea water.
• Balsamic notes.
The whole fragrance is supported by a delicate note of jasmine