Triple rose extract from Liguria - a mix of three heirloom varieties, hand-picked in Valle Scrivia

June 8, 2025 - We set off from Milan with the first morning light, heading toward Pietrafraccia, a small village tucked away in the Ligurian mountains, not far from Genoa. Here, a centuries-old tradition blooms once a year: the harvest of the roses of the Scrivia Valley.

After an hour of winding roads and steep climbs, we arrive to our meeting with Rossella Ansaldi, founder of JB-RoseCosmEthic. She welcomes us into her botanical gardens, where roses are transformed into ingredients for skincare products, for the traditional rose syrup (a Slow Food Presidium), and even for the perfume Amarena by Narici.

Joining her are Francesca Musante, a longtime customer and guardian of the valley’s stories, and Emanuele Zappariello, an actor and agronomist who returns each year to help with the harvest.

Rossella Ansaldi, founder of JB Rose CosmEthic

What’s your background?
I worked in HR for a multinational company. I lived in Latin America, the Middle East, but then I decided to come back. My father’s side is from here; his family has lived in Ronco Scrivia since 1636. I reclaimed our ancestral land, cleared it, and brought it back to life. Now I grow heritage roses and make cosmetics, jams, and syrups, all based on roses from the valley.

Tell us about your gardens.
We have three small plots, totalling two hectares - which is actually a lot for Ligurian mountain terrain. Everything is terraced, and the work is done by hand. My husband, who’s from Rome, always says, “Do you Ligurians have to do everything the hard way?” There’s no monoculture here: all the plots are mixed. Among the roses, you’ll find an ancient apple orchard and wild strawberries. We collect rainwater using small ditches, both to prevent landslides and to irrigate naturally.

What rose varieties do you grow?

There are three traditional varieties native to the area: the moss rose (Muscosa), the damask rose (Damascena), and an old variety we call “the Valley rose,” a centifolia that hasn’t yet been formally classified. They differ in colour, flower structure, and of course, fragrance. The combination of all three is what gives our extracts their full-bodied, long-lasting aroma.

Can you describe the three types?

The moss rose is a deep magenta - photographs almost make it look like a peony because of its full, ruffled petals. It gives the rose syrup its distinctive ruby-pink colour. Its sepals are coated in a fragrant, resinous fuzz, which is where it gets its name “moss rose.”

The damask rose is a pale pink, with a heady, citrusy scent—almost lemony—and a distinctly cosmetic profile. Damask roses are the most widely used in perfumery and aromatherapy, mostly cultivated in Turkey and Bulgaria, where their petals are distilled into precious essential oil.

The Valley rose is smooth-stemmed, with no thorns near the bloom. Its petals are large-celled and cup-shaped. As it ages, its petals don’t fall but change color, retaining their form. Its scent is the quintessential rose fragrance—familiar and nostalgic. We’re currently studying and classifying this variety, both morphologically and microscopically.

How does the harvest work?

Roses bloom once a year, from late May through early June. The plant stops flowering after the summer solstice. Harvest lasts around 3–4 weeks. Each day we pick the newly opened blooms by hand. From the size of the buds, we already know which ones will bloom the next day. Once picked, the roses are placed on sanitized mattress nets to be de-petaled, then either air-dried, infused for syrup, or prepared for distillation.

Francesca Musante, villager and longtime customer

Can you tell us about the traditional rose syrup made in this valley?
It’s made with a lot of petals, sugar, water, lemon, and patience. Only edible, untreated roses are used, and they’re processed immediately. The old women used to say it lasted forever—though it’s best fresh. You mix it with cool water for a refreshing drink, or use it on gelato, in herbal teas, or even in a glass of wine.

What’s your personal connection to these roses?
My house is the oldest in Ronco, with a stable dating back to 1380. My father was a magistrate; my great-grandfather bought the property. The roses I use for syrup are the original plants, almost two centuries old. Every garden used to have its own roses, planted along the fences for culinary use. Women would also make rose water at home, to wash their faces. I still have a rosebush from my grandmother, it’s survived four generations.

Emanuele Zappariello, agronomist and actor

What brings you here today, picking roses?
I come every year for the harvest. I live in Rome and work as an actor - sometimes even as a “merman” on stage - but in the Scrivia Valley, I reconnect with what matters. Gathering petals, laying them out to dry, breathing in the warm scent from the dryers - these things don’t exist in the city. The harvest, while tiring, gives you a kind of euphoria, it puts you in a great mood.

What have you learned about roses?
Everything starts with the raw material. Fresh petals have a unique texture; dried ones retain the original fragrance. After experiencing both drying and distillation, you really learn to tell natural scents from synthetic ones. These roses are so vibrant and tempting I sometimes eat the petals like salad - they’re completely edible!

Perfumer's notes

Rose is the queen of perfumery, but not all roses are the same. Each variety has its own personality, and different methods are used to extract their delicate aromatic compounds. Rose essential oil (also known as rose otto) is obtained through steam distillation. It’s a clear, pure, and extremely costly oil due to its very low yield. Rose absolute, extracted with solvents, is darker and more resinous, functioning as a base note.

In Amarena, we use a triple extract made from all three rose varieties cultivated in the Scrivia Valley. The petals are first gently air-dried, then extracted using supercritical CO₂ - a cold, pressure-based method that preserves the full aromatic profile. The result is a surprisingly vivid and realistic rose scent.