Our Story

0:10   I’m Siobhan Hughes, founder of Luci di Lucca,  a Tuscan brand of handcrafted luxury scented candles . Originally from Australia, I  first discovered Lucca in 2009 during  corporate sabbatical. I immediately fell in  love with the city of Lucca, its architecture,  the medieval history, the people, the culture. Basically,  I fell in love. In 2009,  while I was dining in a restaurant in Lucca I met  my husband Federico Grabau, and unbeknown to me,  he was from a local Lucchese Noble family. To cut  a long story short, we eventually got married and  now I live in an amazing 16th century Tuscan Villa  amongst nine hectares of beautiful botanical park

1:02  I’ve always had a passion for scented candles and  over the years I’ve taken many different candle  making courses and perfume making courses  in Australia, in France and in the United Kingdom. It was initially just a hobby,  however when the pandemic came in 2020,  I found I had a lot of spare time on my hands,  and my daily walks in the garden became a  really cherished ritual. Exploring the garden  allowed me to discover all the hidden treasures,  the beautiful trees and plants and all the  captivating scents that bloom throughout the year. It was during this period that I decided  to launch a range of uniquely scented candles  using the villa and the garden as my muse,  and so I embarked on this creative journey.

1:48  I opted for a really clean and minimalist  design for the product and the packaging  because I wanted it to really reflect  the refinement of the villa and the beauty of the garden. My goal was  to create an elegant product that allowed the craftsmanship to shine, but  for the fragrances to take center stage.

2:11 Choosing the fragrances to launch my brand  with was quite challenging because there are a myriad of scents and fascinating  aspects offered by both the garden and  the Villa. However after a lot of research  I narrowed it down to three fragrances.

2:30  The fragrance NOBILE pays homage to the noble  Villa Grabau itself, built in the 16th century  by the Diodati family of merchants. Nobile is an  olfactory tribute to the powerful noble families  of Lucca, whose Origins were deeply rooted as  traders of luxury goods. The fragrance Nobile is sophisticated and elegant like the Villa. It  opens with some spicy top notes of black pepper and saffron before evolving into a beautiful rose  floral heart and in the base there’s this warm,  precious oud and sandalwood that create  an air of opulence. For me Nobile is a Autumn / Winter fragrance – it reminds me  of sitting by a fire with a good Brunello.

3:19 OTIUM is inspired by the Italian Garden at Villa  Grabau. It evokes a feeling of walking through a  renaissance park during the summer. The fragrance  opens with fresh top notes of lemon, mandarin,  pine needles and a little bit of mint, before it  evolves into a beautiful floral heart of neroli,  jasmine and petitgrain. The base notes  of vetiver and cedarwood give it a really beautiful earthy and grounding  finish. Otium is a really lovely, beautiful floral fragrance and  I think it’s quite feminine.

4:00  The fragrance LA LIMONAIA is inspired by  historical 16th century structure of the  same name. La Limonaia belongs to the classic  Chypre perfume family which originated in the 20th century. It opens with a blast of citrus  notes before evolving into a beautiful floral   heart of Florentine Iris, neroli and jasmine.  The base combines deep woody notes of labdanum,  patchouli and an earthy oak moss. It’s a really  intriguing fragrance. It’s quite romantic, a  little bit vintage and I think it’s quite a unisex  fragrance and it’s actually one of my favorites.

4:44 I make all the candles myself. I pour them by hand  in my small laboratory. The process of making a  candle is quite straightforward – you melt the  wax, you add the fragrance, you stir it together  and then you pour the candle. But, the process of  making a really good quality candle that burns all  the way to the end, that doesn’t produce soot and  that gives a beautiful scent is much harder than  most people think. There are a lot of variables  that impact on the end result. For example the size of the container, the color of the container,  the size of the wick, the composition of the  fragrance – it all needs to come together and  be perfectly balanced to create a good candle.  So there’s a lot of of testing, rigorous testing  that you go through to find the perfect candle.

5:39  What sets my candles apart are the fragrances  which are unique and original and they’re created  exclusively for Lucci di Lucca by independent  master perfumers from Florence in Italy,  from France and from the UK. They’re composed  of a high percentage of natural essential oils as well as some carefully selected synthetic  aroma chemicals which allows us to achieve  two important things: – we can create  much more complex scent profiles and  we can also contribute to the conservation  of rare plant and animal species. All of our candles and fragrances are completely  vegan friendly. Each handcrafted candle  goes through rigorous testing to make sure it  burns uniformly and cleanly to the very end.

6:19 I follow a slow crafting philosophy which is  similar to slow food and slow travel and it  emphasizes the importance between craftsmanship,  sustainability and community. So I produce my  candles in small production runs because  this allows me to focus on the quality and the uniqueness of the candle rather than the  quantity. This process really allows me to  take my time so that I can create a beautiful product with fragrances that will transport  you into Lucca, or throughout Tuscany or  into the Italian Garden at Villa Grabau.