Thanks to the immense taste for luxury of the
Romans, the use of fragrance was rapidly and easily diffused throughout this population always eager to partake in all forms of pleasure, richness and good living. Balsams, incense, perfumed oils, spices and flowers were used in religious ceremonies, banquets and all forms of entertainment, even if the true passion of the ancient Romans for fragrance was to be found above all during bathing and personal care routines.
But where did the elegant women and rich patricians go to buy their exquisite fragrances?
One of the most beautiful and richest roads in Imperial Rome was the Vico Tusco. This road, adorned with triumphant monuments, was famous for being crowded with refined gentlemen and beautiful ladies. The richest tabernæ were to be found here which sold silks, jewellery, gold and cosmetics but above all shops which sold flowers, perfumed ointments and fragrance. In fact, there were so many of the latter that the street was also known as Vicus unguentarius or perfumed ointment road, as well as Vicus Turarius or incense road because of the huge amount of products they sold.
The mania of the Romans for fragrance led to an abuse of their usage which got to such a point that the Senate was obliged to issue a law which limited the exaggerated expenditure in resources for buying perfumed ointments and precious odours. Even so Vico Tusco didn’t feel the effect of this limitation and continued to remain the same elegant avenue characterised by the commerce of innumerable types of balsam and perfumed ointments imported from all the most exotic parts of the empire – a true road of styles and fragrances.
