By Federico Donti
From the reflections of two young Perugian students of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Perugia, the idea of romantically cultivating saffron was born. Why not forge a new product for cosmetics? No sooner said than done! In no time at all, Edoardo and Mattia find a lost magnanimous soul – and completely unaware of the enlightened planning of the two ‘ascetic’ students – who has given them some bulbs forgotten in a plot of land, abandoned, kissed by the sun of green Umbria.
The wealth of knowledge comes to them through the good practices of the passionate Perugian grower Mario Finocchi, of the “Terre D’Arna” association, who has been adopting an experimental method indicated by the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Perugia for some time.
The Templarea project oozes wisdom and anecdotal, even encyclopaedic, storytelling. We’ll just describe its key points: Templarea, EsplorAzione and Naturalmente.
The project is inspired by the Templar vision, a vision of spiritual elevation not only subject to material ends, but inclined to the preservation of the soul. It is here that the Agricosmesi Millesimata was born, which Edoardo and Mattia divide into the Zafferano, Linea Miele and Naturalmente lines: “Our cosmetics draw strength from creation itself – they have all the essence of the divine within them, they are natural products at their core”, they declare.
In its ‘horizontal’ vision, Templarea proposes its articles – while in its ‘vertical’ one it involves people in the activity of spiritual liberation in natural contexts, promoting the introspective search for one’s own being, walking along mountain paths (EsplorAzione).
Nature, well-being and cosmetics come together in the ‘earth’ thanks to saffron cosmetics: the two young entrepreneurs decided to start their adventure with the intention of producing a raw material to be used outside the established food and culinary context, launching themselves into the cosmetics field – translating the well-known properties of saffron from tasting pleasure to that of the person: “Meditating and refining the design intentions, a collaboration began with scholars and researchers inclined to rediscover and enhance saffron, to the point of highlighting its enormous potential, with original characteristics linked to the Perugia and Umbrian territory.”
Saffron cosmetics have a root and spiritual and cultural components – say Edoardo and Mattia – “Deepening our knowledge of this ancient spice, we realized that saffron for personal care is a vector of the spirituality of its land, an inspiration of genuineness and philosophical mysticism that recalls a human reading of divine perfection, Custodian of the Golden Rule, also adopted by the Knights Templar who made the cultivation and application of the benefits of saffron their own in these places. There’s more. The philosophical value of this cultivation is aimed at the search for natural beauty to be osmosis in the inner beauty of the individual.”
An appeal not to internalize everything that is today’s consumer society offers us, offering instead an ethic of well-being, aimed at the search for a meditated and ennobled beauty, in harmony with nature. The very creation of the logo recalls an image in nature of petals and pistils, a balanced expression of an axiom that is in tune with the historical legacy of the Templars themselves, who left their art and their monastic value in this land, cultivating and using saffron also for the treatment of the plague.
Another indispensable contribution to the optimization of the benefits of saffron is the practice of cultivation. Small details that make all the difference. Edoardo and Mattia have perfected the method of soil selection, improving its preparation, quality and finally harvesting. They found that the best time to harvest saffron flowers is in the morning before dawn, when the petals begin to open without yet being hit by full sunlight. Drying follows immediately afterwards, with intermittent ventilation that maintains all the properties of the pistil. At the end of the cycle, the samples are analysed in the laboratory by professional biochemists with the necessary experimental tests.
These products are highly appreciated by beauty salons, masseurs and naturopaths, who have contributed to the perfect success of the project, providing useful information for the refinement of the final formula.
Our invitation is to try the “Templarea” products, an ideal assertion to combine a ‘spiritual’ and ‘material’ way.
Interesting Facts About Saffron
By Pier Paolo Vicarelli
Saffron has always been considered the vegetable gold: both for its colour and for the value of its organoleptic characteristics, for the difficulties related to its cultivation, harvesting and handling.
Saffron stigmas contain over 150 volatile aromatic substances, which make up its essential oil, carotenoids (crocetin, α-crocin, picrocrocin and safranal) that give the typical golden-yellow colour and vitamins A, B1 (thiamine) and B2 (riboflavin).Saffron belongs to the Iridaceae family and its scientific name is Crocus sativus.
Info e contatti: TEMPLAREA / Cell. + 39 345 8932034 / www.templarea.it / email: info@templarea.it