In 1916, Italian baron Carlo Magnani crafted Acqua di Parma’s original fragrance, Colonia. The perfume’s blend of ingredients, which have never been altered, capture the motherland for which Magnani pined on his frequent travels abroad. However far he travelled from his home, after creating the fragrance, the aristocrat could evoke through its refreshing scent the intense vibrancy of Parma sun and the sophisticated lifestyle his circle enjoyed in the city.

Now, Acqua di Parma is expanding its Signatures of the Sun line. Previously available as fragrance sprays and body and bath products, the range of “sun-filled interpretations of precious ingredients” is now growing to include candles and diffusers that exude four scents.

In keeping with a large part of Magnani’s personal endeavour, these scents bring to any space the Italian art of elegant living for which the brand has been renowned since many began to discover Colonia’s qualities. Like Colonia, whose olfactory notes include an international pairing of Sicilian citruses and Bulgarian rose, each of these home fragrances binds together a thoughtfully curated selection of traces from around the world.

The scent of Oud, for example, mixes Russian coriander with the balsamic woodiness of Haitian Amyris oil. Both are further combined with oud oil, which some claim was favoured by the Prophet Muhammad himself, and is used to this day in religious sites and ceremonies throughout the Middle East. Moreover, oud oil is derived from the agarwood that forms in aquilaria trees populating the subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Yuzu, meanwhile, conjures the sublime expanses of south-west China through its oriental fusion of Sichuan pepper and yuzu. The latter is a citrus fruit native to China. It has flavoured Japanese cuisine since its introduction to the country during the Tang dynasty.

In the worldly tasting notes accompanying the four scents, there is the Italian sophistication that allowed Magnani to bring Parma with him on his journeys to exotic locations.

As each aroma permeates a room, it is as though one senses the very journey by which the distant lands and treasures it comprises have somehow arrived. The fragrances are so well refined as to evoke the sense of discovering a popular ingredient for the first time, and even a nostalgia for places to which one may have never been before.

These encounters with other places are most saliently expressed through simultaneous evocations of natural light. As Yuzu reaches the nose, the spiciness of its Sichuan pepper is like a flood of dynamic light soaking a room when curtains are drawn on a sunny day. Meanwhile, soft floral hints and suggestions of violet give the impression of their floating languidly indoors through an open window.

Complemented by notes of coriander, the tropical characteristics of Oud conjure a warm welcome, evoking thoughts of a cosy, firelit abode. And rays of sunlight searching through a majestic ancient forest are suggested by Quercia’s invigorating union of oak musk, pink pepper, lemon and bergamot.

That Magnani designed these fragrances’ precursor Colonia to be a crisp, refreshing scent befitting heat traps throughout Parma, indicates the fortuitous timing with which these experiments in light and place are being released. For better or worse, the Mediterranean sun that inspired Colonia has migrated north through Europe, bringing with it the unprecedented temperatures that have been recorded in countries such as the UK.

Ultimately, these home fragrances, celebrating as they do remote places and the light belonging to them, are as poetic as they are aromatic. And they are also emblematic of Acqua di Parma’s debt to its past, while demonstrating the brand’s determination to innovate.

The Acqua di Parma Signatures of the Sun home range is available exclusively at selfridges.com; acquadiparma.com