Xerjoff sells some of the most expensive perfume made in Italy. Oddly, the house cannot fully settle on when it began.
Its own account puts the formal founding in 2007, in Turin, by Sergio Momo and Dominique Salvo. Plenty of retellings date the brand to 2003 instead, treating that as the year Momo first started building it. Both years turn up in print. We flag the gap rather than tidy it away, because the earlier date is often repeated as fact without a source.
What is not in dispute is the style. Xerjoff is a Turin house built on heavy bottles, rare materials and a top-tier price. Its Casamorati 1888 line revives the name of an old Italian perfumery and holds some of the brand's biggest hits.
Naxos is the standout, released in 2015. It is a honey and tobacco scent over lavender, bergamot, cinnamon, vanilla and tonka bean, warm and sweet and often compared to a richer take on the classic fougere. Erba Pura is the other crowd-pleaser from the same line, a bright fruity-sweet blend of Sicilian citrus, red fruits, musk and vanilla that wears easy in any weather.
The part worth saying plainly: the bottle and the story carry a lot of that price. The honey-tobacco accord inside Naxos is a known and buildable shape, and a well-made version costs a fraction of the crystal on the shelf.
Our Golden Honey is our take on Naxos, and Pure Radiance our take on Erba Pura, both UK-made sprays at 35% concentration. See the full Xerjoff collection or read the best Xerjoff dupes in the UK.
