So have you tried the 4711 yet? The original Eau de Cologne 4711, named after its location at Glockengasse No. 4711 in Köln (Cologne), Germany. It was launched there in 1709 by the 23-year-old Giovanni Maria Farina, an Italian perfume maker who named his fragrance Eau de Cologne, in honor of his new hometown.

In contemporary American English usage, the term “cologne” has become a generic term for perfumes - especially those marketed toward men.

What makes 4711 so popular - one of the oldest still produced fragrances in the world? Perhaps Giovanni Maria Farina knew what he was doing! The many ingredients, guaranteed to appeal at least in part to most people’s olfactory sense, are as follows: in a base of dilute ethanol (70–90%), there is a mixture of citrus oils, including oils of

lemon, orange, tangerine, clementine, bergamot, lime, grapefruit, blood orange, bitter orange, and neroli.

It can also contain oils of lavender, rosemary, thyme, oregano, petitgrain (orange leaf), jasmine, olive, oleaster and tobacco.

Now a personal note on the matter. I purchased a small bottle of 4711 while visiting Cologne in the late 1970s during my first Interrail trip. Perhaps because it seemed such a valuable fragrance, and also because it was lost to me for years in the drawers of life, I still have more than half of the perfume left in the bottle. And if that wasn’t hard to believe, then low and behold, that fantastic fragrance hasn’t changed one bit! Or so say my olfactory nerves!

It stands these days on the shelf beside another dear purchase: the Florida flip calendar that I paid 20 euros for at a Helsinki fleamarket a few years back. Perhaps a lot for such a small thing, but as we all know, size does not necessarily determine the value of anything.

Grazie und Danke schön Giovanni Maria Farina!