Irises from Chianti, Italy

Roots for the perfume trade

We are one of the few remaining producers in the chianti area of dried iris roots for perfumes.

If you'd like more information, we can put you in contact with our cooperative.

There aren't many people left, actually there are hardly any of us at all still growing the 'giaggiolo' or iris. In July and August you'll find our family working the iris roots intent on what looks like peeling potatoes.
In the old days you'd see several families of men and women together chatting and working in the shade with children playing all round them.
Three years after first planting the young irises, the roots are pulled out of the ground with a special tool ('ubbidiente'), then the earth is shaken off, the plant is separated from the bulb and then a long process of cleaning the bulbs starts where the roots are cut from the bulb by hand.
The bulbs are then sliced and left to dry for 5-6 days. Our sliced, dried roots are then collected by a Cooperative - L'Associazione Toscana Giaggiolo in Castelfranco di Sopra.
The roots contain an essence 'iridione', with a delicate and persistent perfume of violets, which is ground to a powder and used by the french perfume industry in particular. The substitution of this essence by synthetic perfumes and the emergence of rival low-cost markets such as China and North Africa decimated the cultivation of the iris in Italy.
However in our area, near San Polo, Poggio alla Croce and in the upper Valdarno, the iris has found its ideal environment and with some difficulty this high-quality product has come to be appreciated by some important french companies.
In the month of May when the flowers are all out, it's a spectacular sight, with the flowers scattered among the vineyards and olive groves.

Irises in bloom in our vineyard, with the tower of Greve-in-Chianti church in the background