Sergio Tacchini
Sergio Tacchini (1987)

The best 1980s sports fragrance and one of the best ever for me, although I have a bottle of 1985 Adidas coming and I hear it's nuclear stuff...a review will follow.

An eponymous 1987 release from Sergio Tacchnini, the Italian sportswear brand that was prevalent in the UK along with such compatriots as Kappa, Diadora, Ellesse and K-Way from the late 1970s onwards and quickly became beloved of football 'casuals', aka hooligans, in the 2 decades that followed. This is an Italian 1980s take on what was considered a fresh, sporty fragrance, mercifully containing no trace of synthetic, marine or aquatic notes which became so popular in perfumery during the years following Tacchini's release.

A fairly linear scent which opens with a strong and palpable blast of citrus in the form of Bergamot and a dry lime, which subsides after some hours to an exquisite, soapy drydown of Cedar and sandalwood. This is no sandalwood bomb like Samsara Extrait, but the ingredients smell clean, natural and infinitely more luxurious than a sports fragrance has any right to. Projection is moderate throughout and a few sprays will last for over 12 hours in warmer weather, in which this fragrance works very well, and a little longer in cooler temperatures.

Great stuff, in a similar vein to Lacoste Original, but a superior and more potent blend than its French rival, which comes in a typically 1980s clunky Brutalist-style asymmetrical hexagonal bottle.

I get some fresh lime combined with a bit of cedarwood. Cedar will kick in some sharpness to the lime. So sharp though one might say it reminds them of a cleaning chemical. I wouldn't call this soapy but rather a clean effect from aldehydes filtering in a little pine and mint. The finish is kind of new-agey from freshly green patchouli and hints of styrax incense.

Sergio Tacchini by Sergio Tacchini I give a thumbs up. This one is a nice blend of sport scent freshness meets fougere. It has low projection but is more detectable than most sport scents I've encountered and lasts at least 12 hours. However, this made a better daily wear fragrance for the average joe rather than the tennis playing yuppies it was marketed for. Sweating profusely while playing a sport and wearing a fragrance with patchouli and styrax in it will not mesh well.

Sergio Tacchini is without a doubt a very pleasant cologne that is incredibly weak, hence the neutral. Super long lasting well into the next day, but once applied, this is virtually a skin scent from start to finish and I’m not one for strong scents but geez, you can barely perceive this on your body and that’s with 4 healthy sprays which I would never do in daily life. I’m a 1-2 Spray kinda guy. I believe it needs to be applied to open air skin and not underneath clothing because underneath of clothing, you can just barely smell it.

If you fancy this aroma, the obscure and very little known perfume house of Paolo Conti has taken this genre and done it way, way better, and much stronger to boot. The name of the cologne is Alto. Good luck finding it though as Alto is nonexistent. It’s sibling Lorenzo which is a Lapidus copy can still be found if you really look for it.

An overlooked gem even in its current form (imagine that!?), Sergio Tacchini has among the best quality/price ratio for a so-called cheapie (that term sounds needlessly pejorative). Citrus aldehydes and bergamot over a bed of powdery woods and grasses, and a curiously athletic rubbery feel, aptly summarizes this 80s sporty aromatic. There's a bit of a white floral feel in the heart as well.

I haven't smelled older formulations so I cannot compare, but what I have here is a nifty wear. Dry, soapy, fresh, clean, just out of the shower goodness for the summertime; that's what this one is all about. Rumor has it you can even pick it up at TJMaxx in the states depending on where you are geographically.

Sergio Tacchini is perhaps Italy's answer to René Lacoste, and followed in his footsteps of turning a career in tennis into a career in athletic apparel design. The eponymous Lacoste launched by René in 1933 would go on to become one of the biggest athletic apparel designers in the world, replete with its own fragrance line by Jean Patou before Tacchini ever got his enterprise off the ground; but Sergio would eventually see a more modest form of success by the 1980's with mainly tennis shoes, and by 1987 had this eponymous men's fragrance. Simply called Sergio Tacchnini (1987), this masculine launch scent is quite literally that 1980's sporty "cologne" smell that you just can't place but remember smelling as a child or young adult in the 1980's. This is the kind of smell you wrongly attribute to a number of things in the 1980's or even 1990's, like various early Adidas and possibly even Lacoste sprays, as Sergio Tacchini the scent is only a stone's throw away from the eponymous Lacoste (1984) that ostensibly replaced the older Lacoste by Jean Patou (1967). What the Tacchini does that the 80's Lacoste doesn't, is give a big sharp medicinal kick of English lavender to the heart of the scent along with a bigger hit of patchouli in the base, crossing the chypre and fougère streams in a way Lacoste avoids. I also feel like Avon latched onto this style too, but fifteen years later when they were putting out all sorts of weird minty and herbal chypre exercises in the early 2000's. Things like Avon Modern Balance (2001) or Avon Paradigm (2002) were definitely patterned after this beast.

The opening of Sergio Tacchini is going to hit hard, with a bitter lime, sharp rosemary, galbanum, a metallic grassy aldehyde of some fashion, and very dry medicinal nature overall. There is some mint here to cool the effect, and that mint is later joined by the camphoraceous nature of patchouli, but boy is it a blast from the past both figuratively and literally. People who complained that sport scents back in the 80's were too quiet had nothing to worry about here. The almost-herbal English lavender comes into the heart, joined by muguet, some geranium for that classic fougère feel, then the compressed woodsy base appears. An old powdery take on sandalwood approaches, with that "crispy" patchouli note, some vetiver, oakmoss, a pyralone leather vibe, pine, styrax, and labdanum musk joining. The pine is very clearly what makes this an Italian stallion compared to the Lacoste too, as Italian men seem to forever love their pine fragrances. If you're not convinced that the classic 80's aerosol deodorant vibe is something you want to wear on you all day, you better scrub now, because Sergio Tacchini is a tenacious bugger once it sets. Longevity is "80's good" and sillage is also lovely. As you might have guessed, this one is going to smell best in the heat of summer or just the Mediterranean in general, but you can really wear it whenever or wherever because Sergio Tecchini has the strength to see you through until kingdom come; this is of course very much unlike the muted aquatics that were nipping at its heels.

Because this smells a bit like "generic 80's cologne" to the untrained nose, many a guy out there nowadays sniffing this for the first time is going to dismiss it if they aren't absolutely gaga about all things 80's. Obviously, the heavy-hitters from the decade like Drakkar Noir by Guy Laroche (1982) and Obsession for Men by Calvin Klein (1986) still endure to some fashion, mostly because they avoid smelling like their time by doing something that ended up being inspirational; but Sergio Tacchini is such an amazing time capsule of a fragrance by taking your mind places those other watershed fragrances cannot, simply because they are still ubiquitous while this one is not. Another reason I love this stuff is we see a "different kind of freshness" predating the blue wave that washed away all other forms of sporty, hot-weather masculine-market scent upon its arrival. Sergio Tacchini would not be the last of its ilk, as transitions always occur with shifting paradigms in the fragrance market, but it is likely the last of its kind released while its kind was still the dominant life form in its field, if that makes sense. Sergio Tacchini with its minty, mossy, sharp lavender, pine, and patchouli pizazz stood at the edge of the abyss and stared, never knowing that the abyss was staring back with things like Davidoff Cool Water (1988) right around the corner. In a nutshell, if you're the kind of guy who lights up when "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl comes up on Spotify, then you're going to like Sergio Tacchini. I know I do. Thumbs up

Pre bar code bottle
Minty soapy freshness, woody gravitas undertones, simple and recommended.

A gorgeous men's perfume! Great silage here!

I really love this one.
I have initially smelled in on a colleague of mine when i was about 17 and liked it from the start. Unfortunately i have forgotten about it in the latter years. A few months ago i have purchased some minis and Sergio Tacchini was one of them. Smelling it again made me think of my colleague and the beautiful years at high school.
On my skin will last over 20 hours.
As for the description i will totally agree with Sporenburg's review. My nose refuses to detect citrus though.
Magnificent!

Note: 9-9,5/10

I wore this scent in the early 1990's as my signature fragrance and used all of its complementary bath and shaving products.

I enjoyed the refreshing pungency and sharpness of its green and aquatic ingredients which never cloyed but always persisted for the whole day.

I still wear this lovely jewel about 3/4 times a year as it brings memories of love, youth and freedom.

Thumbs up!

Very, very good. I'll not add too many explanations, other reviewers did it in a excellent way. I only add that this is -maybe- one of the BEST SUMMER SCENT ever produced since it can resist to high temperatures and burning sun. Scent nr. 1 to be used when summer it's really hot. .....and I'm very pleased to say that I tried the original from1987 and modern one side-by-side, and although there are some notable differences, the "core" of this perfume is still intact. The modern version has a gentle, slight talc and iris-like background. Someone could appreciate it. The vintage version is more "rude". Longevity is decent under the sun, while enormous when in office or at home. Please note this is a Summer scent, make no sense wear it during the winter. Ayway, two thumbs up both vintage and modern. (final word: it's sold at ridiculous price in stores -15 euros for 100ml-, it deserves a lot.)Pros: One of the best scent for summer. Reformulated version is OKCons:

Nice! A clean and crisp for any occasion scent.
I first tried the aftershave version back in 1991 when it was widely available at every department store. I became a great admirer. Over the years it became hard to find - and is still hard to find! I had forgotten about Sergio Tacchini until experiencing a recent flashback which led to spending some time procuring for a bottle online. Finally I found the EDT version (supplied by a UK company). When I received the bottle I removed the cap and had a smell...Wow!!! So subtle yet masculine; citrus, green and wood with a wash of fresh soap, triggering memories from 22 years ago. There are floral undertones too. I think this fragrance was designed for the tennis player but I wear it at work and socially. Such a unique and pleasant fragrance. I like the bottle also, interesting in shape and design, half glass, half plastic. All in all unique.

Pros: Clean and fresh, masculine, decent longevity, sporty, casual, formal
Cons:

Soapy-clean, sweet scent with a touch of citrus, just the right amount. Inoffensive, understated and elegant. Probably much too simple for serious scent scholars, but a perfect, sunny summer scent for anyone else.