Acqua di Parma is a 1916 brand revived in 1993 by a business consortium intending to do an LVMH on it, i.e., inject capital and turn a local outfit into an international business. They succeeded, and sure enough, LVMH bought the firm in 2003. AdP’s cadmium-yellow packaging, handsome Art Deco bottle, imperial crest and sans-serif typeface are now found everywhere. If success is measured by the number of imitators, they are doing well: Acque di Garda, delle Langhe, Elba, Biella, Firenze, Genova, Noto, Portofino, Sardegna, Stresa and Taormina1 sprung up in the years following the AdP launch.

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