Filippo Sorcinelli Decants and Samples

Filippo Sorcinelli dresses popes for a living. His atelier has made sacred vestments since 2001, work that has dressed three popes, and the perfumes he signs as UNUM smell like the buildings that work belongs to: incense, cold stone, air shaped for sound.

He was a cathedral organist before he was a perfumer, and it shows. The house, founded in 2014 in Mondolfo, Italy, builds fragrance the way an organist builds sound: slow, resinous and unafraid of the dark.

That is why you sample this house before you commit. A full bottle is $341 for 100 ml; a 2 ml decant of the same juice is $13, and one evening of wear tells you everything.

Every Filippo Sorcinelli decant at Gouttes Rares is poured from a bottle we bought at full retail, never from the grey market. We decant to order with lab-grade Socorex syringes into clean vials, in 2 ml, 5 ml and 10 ml sizes, and each one is measured and sealed the day it ships.

The range at a glance

Two perfumes, one cathedral

The range we pour is two extraits, and they are siblings rather than twins. Both are logged at 6 to 8 hours with Moderate sillage, so the choice is character, not performance.

LAVS, the sacristy itself

LAVS is named for Laboratorio Atelier Vesti Sacre, the vestment atelier, and it is the front door of the house. Black pepper and cardamom strike first, sharp and cool, then cloves, labdanum and elemi press an incense-dusted warmth into the skin while opoponax and oakmoss settle into dark, mossy smoke.

This is the pick if you want the church itself: cold stone, censer smoke, the hush after a service. $13 for 2 ml, $28 for 5 ml, $44 for 10 ml.

Reliqvia, the relic rather than the church

Reliqvia is built as an object that has been handled and kept, not a space to walk into. Pine resin and mastic meet a bruised clove, incense smoke curls through guaiac wood and sandalwood, and the dry-down bleeds black currant and sweet orange into tobacco leaf and nutmeg.

Choose it if LAVS reads too austere on you and you want warmth and fruit under the smoke. It resolves slowly; Sorcinelli says music remains his first source of inspiration, and you can hear it here. $13 for 2 ml, $28 for 5 ml, $44 for 10 ml.

How to start

Start with a 2 ml of LAVS, the way most people meet this house, and give it two full evening wears when the incense has room to breathe. These are extraits: two or three sprays are enough.

If you want the whole range, that is both perfumes in 2 ml for $26, less than a tenth of one full bottle. Size up to a 5 ml or 10 ml of the one you keep reaching for.

Frequently asked questions

What is the lowest-priced way to try Filippo Sorcinelli?

A 2 ml decant of LAVS or Reliqvia is $13, against $341 for a 100 ml full bottle. Both are extraits, so 2 ml is several full wears, enough to know whether the house is yours.

Which Filippo Sorcinelli fragrance should I try first?

Most people meet the house through LAVS. It carries the house signature, incense, cold stone and resinous smoke, in its most direct form. Reliqvia is the second step, warmer and fruitier, with pine, mastic and tobacco leaf under the incense.

How long do Filippo Sorcinelli fragrances last on skin?

Both LAVS and Reliqvia are logged at 6 to 8 hours with Moderate sillage in our own wear testing. They are extraits, so two or three sprays carry a full evening.

Are these decants genuine?

Every Filippo Sorcinelli decant is poured from a bottle we bought at full retail, never from the grey market. We decant to order with lab-grade Socorex syringes into clean vials, and each one is measured and sealed the day it ships.

All longevity and sillage ratings are drawn from our own in-house wear-testing of each fragrance.

Shop the full Filippo Sorcinelli collection