Every issue of Materia Viva begins with an aromatic material and follows it the way one follows a trail: not only the scent, but the landscape, the history, the gestures, the images and the words that the material carries with it.

This time the thread leads to the Mediterranean, to the coasts where rosemary grows wild, between sea and land. It is a plant so familiar that we often no longer stop to smell it.

And yet rosemary has crossed the centuries alongside everyday gestures, celebrations and fragrant preparations. We find it in the writings of ancient authors, in English wedding garlands, in the recipes for Queen of Hungary’s Water. Shakespeare entrusts it to Ophelia as a symbol of remembrance; centuries later, the American poet Marianne Moore looks at it with a surprising eye.

To the nose, a green, resinous freshness, almost briny. Rolling a sprig between the fingers is enough to release a scent that seems to hold something of the Mediterranean landscape it comes from.

Materia Viva no. 12 follows this long story through botany, perfumery, literature and memory, accompanied by an original illustration.

Discover more here on Materia Viva.

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