Parco 1923

Parco 1923 is an Italian niche fragrance and body-care house that translates the flora of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park into perfume. It was founded by two childhood friends from Pescasseroli, a town inside the park, and launched its first fragrance in 2016 [7]. The name is often mistaken for a founding date: the "1923" refers to the year the national park itself was established, not the year the company began [2].

The house works with the perfumer Luca Maffei and centres its identity on endemic plants — wild angelica, laburnum, beech wood and the rare Venus slipper orchid among them — reconstructed as scent rather than harvested from the protected woods. A portion of each sale is directed to the national park [5].

Parco 1923 was created by Paride Vitale and Ugo Morosi, friends since childhood in Pescasseroli, a town set among the Monti Marsicani mountains within the park [6]. Both were drawn to their shared origins, and the project began as an attempt to capture the scent of a place they knew intimately.

According to the ISSIMO feature, the founders spent roughly two years developing their first fragrance before it reached the market. The commercial launch is dated to 2016 [7]; ISSIMO loosely places the brand's development in the early 2010s, which reflects that preceding research period rather than a separate founding date.

The "1923" in the name is drawn from the park's own history. The brand's history page recounts a story that begins in the late nineteenth century, in efforts to halt the extermination of the Marsican brown bear, and that "came true in 1923 when the royal seal proclaimed the birth of one of the most ancient parks in Europe" [2]. That date belongs to the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise — a protected area — not to the cosmetics company, which describes itself as "coming to life" from the land the park preserves.

The range is built around fragrance, with a related line of body-care products. Its signature scents include the original Eau de Toilette PARCO1923; Scarpetta di Venere, an Eau de Parfum named for the rare lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) that also anchors a body-care collection; Riserva Regia, described by the company as an "ethereal and enveloping composition inspired by the ancient Mountain Nobility"; and the Refuge Collection, three fragrances inspired by mountain huts.

The company calls its approach "olfactory architecture," a method of composing scents from plants that grow naturally in the park. It says it worked with botanical experts and local park rangers over a two-year study period to identify which endemic species could be recreated as fragrance [3]. Rather than harvest from protected ground, the team studied specimens and reconstructed the scents. Among the roughly fifteen botanical ingredients are wild angelica, described as a medicinal plant only sporadically used in perfumery; laburnum, or Maggiociondolo, known locally as "Golden Rain"; and beech wood, which the brand notes cloaks over sixty percent of the park's forests.

A recurring design element is the pietra gentile, or "gentle stone" — a ring of white limestone quarried from the park's Pietragentile mountain. The company explains that the stone's natural porosity captures fragrance molecules that would otherwise disperse, and that once a bottle is empty the ring can be removed and kept, continuing to release scent. It presents this reuse as a way to reduce waste.

Parco 1923 positions itself as a house that tells the story of a specific protected landscape. Its stated aim is to reproduce "the feeling of an immersion" in the park's ancient forests at peak bloom, and its tagline is "The scent of nature." The Marsican brown bear, a near-extinct species the park protects, serves as the brand's emblem.

Conservation is framed as part of the product rather than an afterthought. Beyond directing a share of proceeds to the park [5], the house emphasises that it reconstructs endemic scents with botanists instead of collecting protected flora. The perfumes sit in a prestige price tier and are sold through the company's own online shop as well as a number of international niche retailers.

The house has been covered by fragrance and lifestyle publications rather than through formal awards. CaFleureBon reviewed the original Eau de Toilette in 2018, noting its herbaceous, woody-floral character and confirming that a portion of proceeds benefits the national park [5]. The Italian lifestyle title ISSIMO profiled the founders and the brand's conservation symbolism, and Lampoon Magazine featured the house in 2024 in an article on the scents of the Abruzzo park's forests.

Parco 1923 is an active company. Its website operates as a working e-commerce shop, and its catalogue has expanded beyond the original fragrances to include Riserva Regia and triple-milled soap bars. In 2024–2025 it released a collaboration with the Italian clothing brand ASPESI: a scented laundry detergent built on notes of ash and juniper, described as free from phosphates, enzymes and silicones and "entirely Made in Italy" [8]. Alongside its Italian base, the brand reaches international markets through niche fragrance retailers.