Though she spent many years in Paris and New York, it was in “La Sicilia Orientale,” the southwestern part of the island, known as “Ortigia” (hence the name), that Ilaria’s first memories were formed. “In my vagabond life, the family house in Sicily was the one stable point,” she says. “Every summer morning, I’d open the doors to the balcony outside my bedroom and just breathe in the same sweet smell of orange blossoms.”

Zagara—orange blossom—was first in a range that includes Ambra Nera, a heady blend of vetiver, cedar, and patchouli, and no less alluring (if more familiar) scents such as lavender, bergamot, lime, and pomegranate.