From May 21 to November 30, 2025, the Palazzo Mocenigo Museum – Study Centre for the History of Textiles, Costume and Perfume – will host “A Journey Through the History of Perfume. The Storp Collection”, an exhibition project by Mavive and Zignago Vetro, developed with the support of fragrance house Givaudan and in collaboration with the Department of Cultural Heritage – Archaeology, History of Art, Cinema and Music at the University of Padua.

The exhibition has been curated by leading figures from each of the involved institutions: Marco Vidal (CEO of Mavive), Chiara Squarcina (Scientific Director of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia), Luigi Zanini (curator of the Palazzo Mocenigo Museum), professors Monica Baggio, Barbara Savy and Massimo Vidale from the University of Padua.

Visitors will embark on an immersive journey spanning over six thousand years of olfactory culture, brought to life through a dramatic timeline divided into 32 themed modules. The display features over 500 historical perfume bottles and seven fragrances faithfully reconstructed by Givaudan perfumers Gaël Montero, Calice Becker, and Nisrine Bouazzaoui Grillié, using original recipes.

At the heart of the exhibition is a compelling message: “Perfume may fade, but the bottle preserves its memory.” The design, materials, and forms of the bottles on display reflect the creativity of different eras and cultures, highlighting perfumery’s cultural and anthropological significance.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is the Storp Collection, one of the most important private collections of perfume bottles in the world. Now housed at Palazzo Mocenigo thanks to an agreement between the Storp family and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, the collection began in 1911 with the founding of the fragrance company Drom and has grown over three generations to include more than 3,000 pieces. For the first time, it is being presented to the public in a broad and coherent historical context, offering a unique journey through the aesthetic and olfactory memory of humankind.

Greeting visitors at the entrance is an immersive installation in the museum’s ground-floor White Room, created by Zignago Vetro – a multi-sensory experience where images and soundscapes evoke the poetic nature of glass, a timeless material that has symbolized perfumery throughout the ages.

As Chiara Squarcina notes, “This exhibition is an opportunity to celebrate the connection between perfume and the craftsmanship behind bottle design, through a narrative that weaves together art, history, and beauty.”

Biagio Costantini, CEO of Zignago Vetro, emphasizes the role of glass as “an eternal material, capable of telling the story of our evolving relationship with fragrance from antiquity to the present.”

Ferdinand Storp, collector and guardian of the collection, reminds us that “each bottle is a silent witness to the history of perfumery, just as every stone in Venice holds a memory to be passed on.”

Marco Vidal, CEO of Mavive, highlights how “this project shows that perfumery is not only a cultural and anthropological phenomenon, but also a strategic sector for the European economy and heritage.”

Finally, Maurizio Volpi, President of Fragrance & Beauty at Givaudan, states that “the exhibition celebrates the richness of our olfactory heritage and gives the public the chance to rediscover historical fragrances with extraordinary authenticity.”

“A Journey Through the History of Perfume” is a project that brings together research, cultural valorization, and industrial creativity, offering a unique testimony to the evolution of fragrance in human history.