Giorgio Armani
Acqua di Giò Profondo
Profondo answers the eternal complaint about aquatics: they don't last. Alberto Morillas took his 1996 blockbuster and dove deeper, trading beach sunshine for open-water mystery with the Aquozone marine molecule and a mineral amber base. It's still unmistakably Acqua di Giò — clean, blue, universally likeable — but with EDP muscle that survives a full workday. If the original is a beach holiday, Profondo is a freediving session: same ocean, more intensity. A safe blind buy for summer.
Twenty-four years after the original Acqua di Giò rewrote the rules for fresh masculine fragrance, Armani asked what would happen if the same idea went underwater. Profondo, released in 2020 and commonly attributed to Alberto Morillas, is not a stronger Acqua di Giò. It is a darker, colder, more mineral one, and the difference registers within seconds. Armani describes it as blending salty marine notes with cypress, lavender and rosemary, rounded out with patchouli and musk to explore a new dimension, the deep sea.
The opening is marine in a way the 1996 fragrance never was: sea notes and an aquatic material Armani calls Aquozone, alongside bergamot and green mandarin, giving a cold saline brightness rather than a sunny one. The heart is the genuinely interesting part. Rosemary and lavender bring a dry aromatic bitterness, cypress adds a resinous evergreen shadow, and mastic contributes a green, slightly turpentine-like edge that reads as wet stone. Underneath, mineral notes, musk, patchouli and amber build a base that is smooth and grey rather than warm. The whole thing smells like rock pools at dusk rather than a beach at noon.
It is the more versatile of the two in practice. It works through a Cape winter as easily as through Highveld heat, and it is one of very few aquatic fragrances that reads formal enough for evening. It has also developed a considerable following as an everyday office scent, precisely because it manages to be inoffensive without being boring, and because it does not smell like the same fragrance everyone wore at school.
Performance is a substantial improvement on the original. Ten hours is not unusual, eight is routine, and the mineral musky base stays legible right through the day; the opening three hours are the loud ones. Armani sells it in a refillable bottle alongside a Profondo Parfum concentration, so the idea has been extended rather than replaced. If you have tried the original Acqua di Giò and found it too light or too sweetly citric, this is the version to test first, because it is a genuinely different fragrance wearing a familiar name.
At a glance
Acqua di Giò Profondo by Giorgio Armani — Fresh. Launched 2020. Created by Alberto Morillas. Longevity 8–12 hrs. Sillage moderate. Price in South Africa: R1,000 - R2,000. Best for: morning commute, weekend brunch, date night, garden party.
- Scent profile
- Fresh
- Launched
- 2020
- Perfumer
- Alberto Morillas
- Longevity
- 8–12 hrs
- Sillage
- Moderate
- Price in South Africa
- R1,000 - R2,000
- Gender
- Masculine
- Best for
- Morning Commute, Weekend Brunch, Date Night, Garden Party
Performance
Marathon runner — lasts all day, stays close to skin.
✍️ Did You Know?
- •Profondo was released in 2020, twenty-four years after the original Acqua di Giò, and is commonly attributed to Alberto Morillas
- •Armani describes it as exploring a new dimension: the deep sea
- •The house names salty marine notes with cypress, lavender and rosemary, rounded out with patchouli and musk
- •Armani sells Profondo in a refillable bottle and has added a Profondo Parfum concentration to the line
- •It is markedly darker and more mineral than the 1996 original rather than simply being a stronger version of it
- •'Profondo' means 'deep' in Italian — Morillas built it around Aquozone, a modern marine molecule that smells like ozonic depth rather than beachy calone.
- •It was the first eau de parfum concentration in the Acqua di Giò line, launched for the fragrance's 25th anniversary era.
- •The green-blue gradient bottle is meant to mimic the light fading as you dive deeper underwater.
Main Accords
Fragrance Pyramid
How this scent unfolds on your skin
Top Notes
Base Notes
Community Opinions
Wear It When
Morning Commute
“A spritz before you leave — fresh enough to wake you up, polished enough for the boardroom.”
Weekend Brunch
“Sun-dappled café tables, iced lattes, and effortless charm.”
Date Night
“Candlelight, slow conversation, and a scent trail that draws them closer.”
Garden Party
“Blooming hedgerows, pastel dresses, and sunlight warming bare shoulders.”
Drag the knobs to explore
This Scent Is For
Crisp & invigorating — thrives in warmer months.
Scent Mood
Peak season: ☀️ Summer (100%)
Spr
Sum
Aut
Win
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Layer It With
Curated scent pairings to build a signature from Acqua di Giò Profondo. Each combination is vetted by perfumers, editors, and community.
The winter weight for summer signatures.
Adds chestnut-vanilla warmth and smoke to lighter scents — converts a daytime signature into something evening-ready in cold weather.
Layering Tip
Spray the heavier scent first, then the lighter one on top. Start with two scents — more than three quickly becomes muddled. Always test on skin first.
AI Review Summary
Synthesised from fragrance data
Acqua di Giò Profondo takes the classic aquatic blueprint and gives it genuine depth — marine notes and bergamot open things up with that cool, salty freshness, but the lavender, rosemary and cypress heart stops it from going thin or generic. What really sets it apart is how the mineral amber and patchouli base adds a brooding, almost rocky-coastline warmth that feels polished rather than predictable. Performance is solid across the board, with 8 to 12 hours of wear and a moderate sillage that projects confidently without overwhelming a room. It's a brilliant warm-weather fragrance that transitions effortlessly from a long day at the office into an evening out — the kind of scent that works hardest when the South African summer heat is doing its thing. If you want a versatile, grown-up fresh fragrance that feels both effortless and considered, Profondo deserves serious attention.
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