Tiziana Terenzi Chimaera

by: Serguey Borisov

"She was the mother of Chimaera who breathed raging fire,
a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong,
who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion;
in her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat,
breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire."
     —The Theogony of Hesiode

The Chimera in Greek mythology is a wonderful and frightful creature: the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent (dragon), breathing fire. In another mythical embodiment, the Chimera is a three-headed creature, with the heads of a lion, a goat and a serpent. The monster has a difficult ancestry. It was the successor of Typhon and Echidna, which leads us to the goddess Gaia through Typhon and Echidna through Tartarus. But just as all myths developed and changed in different hystorical circumstances, each mythical character has several different biographies. The Chimera is as complex as it is unbelivable.

Just imagine what perfume would match such a complicated myth. Chimaera by Tiziana Terenzi is a total surprise, too. Chimaera perfume was created after Paolo Terenzi's visit to the Lycian region in Turkey—this is where Chimera was born. There's the forever burning mountain of the same name near the Kemer resort. It's one of the unique attractions of the region.

After all, it was burning in the days of Pliny the Elder, being the natural source of the Chimera myth, and it still burns after a few thousand years! Allegedly the Greek hero Bellerophon defeated the Chimera, saving Lycians from grief and suffering, and buried it under this mountain, but the Chimera still breathes fire from underground ...

Bellerophon riding Pegasus (1914) wikipedia

Fire is a particularly important thing for the Terenzi family, because the main business for the Tiziana Terenzi brand is devoted to decorative and fragrant candles! Therefore, perfume inspiration from a fiery phenomenon is quite natural for Terenzi. But this kind of fire is different from the Italian ritual fires (XIX March), from a bright fire on the snow (White Fire), and from the night bonfire of Arabian Desert travelers (Gold RoseOud).

For example, Paolo Terenzi, perfumer of the house, included the earth note in the description. In the mythological sense of the land, personified by Gaia and Tartarus, it is appropriate to create a Chimaera. The fire from the ground, the burning land—I do not know how successfully this idea came from a practical point of view (Indians have long been doing a similar smell, distilling pottery shards in sandalwood oil and getting Attar Mitti and there are synthetic materials to make it easier)—but one could smell the earthy accent in Chimaera. This dry smell is created and enhanced by black pepper, Cashmeran, patchouli and saffron. There is even a strange tart-like smell that reminded me of natural gas leakage.

The most notable and characteristic part of the perfume is warm balsamic sweetness. Benzoin, Cistus labdanum, Tolu and Copaiba balsams, pine resin and leather—they are meant to reveal the good side of fire, fire as a gift of the gods and the blessings of heaven.

Paolo Terenzi: “The power of fire is something special. It is the history of human-being. They follow the big fire and they gather around it. Fire is life, fire is power. People who can dominate fire have the power. To me fire represents the life. And also fire used to attract me when I was a kid. I used to play with it. So I wanted to catch the odour, the perfume of the fire.”

By those balsamic notes perfumer Paolo Terenzi offers us a real ascent to Mount Chimaera, through thickets of grass, shrubs and trees, with the warm and intoxicating scents of sage, rockrose, thyme, pine and laurel, and other aromatic nectariferous plants. Thus, the Chimera fires make the surrounding smells of nature stronger. All this natural aromatic sweetness is enhanced by a caramel cream accord and a powdery iris and carnation accord—a perfumer's gesture that makes Chimaera fragrance more human-like and very pleasant. Difficult to analyze, multilayered and a very lasting perfume.

Finally, the third part of Chimaera should have to be water or sea breeze—but apart from lemon flower's freshness at the start of the composition, I did not notice any prominent aquatic component. The Chimaera's fire wins over water.


The fragrance was released for the first time in 2014 as a part of the Anniversary Collection, in a limited edition of 1000 bottles. Each bottle had special luxury packaging: a black cube with elegant illumination inside—this perfume is clearly a nocturnal creature. According to the new fashion, the fragrance exists only as Extrait de Parfum, and only in 100 ml bottles.


All of the 2014 edition is already sold out and I did not get to try it. My descriptions apply to the new issue of 2015, which has already been released with the same formula, but it may smell a little different because some rare natural ingredients such as iris, benzoin, tobacco and balsams in the current year already have slightly different characteristics. But the real rarity of the perfume is frankincense from the Anatolian region of Turkey, which has some Boswellia trees which are pretty rare for Turkey. The Anniversary Collection is based on the same principles as wine—the grapes are always the same, but the wine's taste may vary from year to year depending on weather conditions. The same with Anatolian incense: a small harvest is not enough to last for two years. It would be interesting to know how Paolo Terenzi refers to the fact that his perfumes are great objects for purchasing in mulitples?

Tiziana Terenzi Chimaera 2015 Anniversary Collection

Black pepper, Lemon, Saffron, Red earth, White leather, Hydrogen, Tolu balsam, Thyme, Bay leaf, Iris, Pimento, Carnation, Peony, Honey, Black magnolia, Sage, Incense, Patchouli, Cashmere wood, Labdanum, Benzoin, Caramel, Agarwood, Tobacco, Copaiba balm, Leather, Pine.