There is a moment, when reading Io sono Naso (I am Nose), when you realize that you are really… breathing.
Not reading: breathing.
As if the words of Ilaria Legato had the power to reactivate a forgotten sense, to make you perceive life not with your eyes—too accustomed, too fast—but with something older, more intimate, more sincere.
The author starts from a simple and radical provocation: “Imagine you are only your nose.”
It is both an invitation and a sensory experiment.
What remains of us if we remove sight, touch, and hearing?
What happens if we rely on smell— that primordial sense that never lies, that is not deceived by appearances, that recognizes before it even understands?
There are books that you read, and books that you breathe in.
I am Nose belongs to the latter category.
It is a text that forces you to slow down, to listen. To remind you that, before seeing, human beings learned to perceive. And that, of all the senses, smell is the one that reveals the most, the one that does not lie.
Ilaria Legato starts from a provocation that is as simple as it is revolutionary:
“Imagine you are only a nose.”
This image gives rise to a journey that combines philosophy, neuroscience, and design to restore scent to its original role: that of a language of identity.
Smell as an invisible signature
We live in a world saturated with images, where visual excess has flattened perception and made everything seem similar.
Yet smell—the oldest sense, the closest to emotions and memory—can still surprise us.
This awareness gave rise to Io sono Naso. Come usare il potere del logo olfattivo nel branding e nel marketing turistico (I am Nose. How to use the power of the olfactory logo in branding and tourism marketing), published by Dario Flaccovio Editore in the Accadde Domani FuTurismo series, edited by Nicoletta Polliotto.
The book explores the idea that a scent can become an olfactory logo: an invisible but powerful signature, capable of communicating values, emotions, and presence.
Through concrete examples and poetic reflections, Legato shows how sensory branding is not just a strategy, but a gesture of authenticity.
Every smell tells a story, every fragrance is a sign of recognition, a memory that remains even when everything else fades away.
“Train yourself to smell as a political, poetic, and design gesture.
Open up spaces that cannot be seen but can be felt.
Transform perfume into an ethical and sensitive signature.”
— Ilaria Legato
A journey through neuroscience, design, and hospitality
With a preface by Anna Barbara, architect and professor at the Politecnico di Milano, one of the leading experts in olfactory design, the book takes the reader on a sensory journey divided into six chapters.
It starts with the power of smell, to understand how this primordial sense influences emotions, memories, and decisions, and ends with the design of actual olfactory experiences in hospitality venues.
Through case studies, design tools, and expert testimonials, Legato shows how scent can become a strategic positioning lever for hotels, restaurants, museums, and even cities.
Among the projects mentioned are Le Méridien in Paris, Hotel Magna Pars in Milan, Le Sirenuse in Positano, Disney’s Hotel New York, and Ristorante Sensorium in Milan.
Each example shows how the air itself can be transformed into a design medium, capable of creating scenarios, rituals, and narratives that make the guest’s experience unique and memorable.
The birth of a new sensibility
Legato speaks not only to marketing and design professionals, but to anyone who wants to rediscover the power of feeling.
In a world that communicates through images, Io sono Naso invites us to communicate through the invisible: an invitation to become osmonauts, explorers of the intangible worlds that live in the air, between memory and desire.
Enriched by contributions from Mariano Dotto (neurobranding), Paolo Persico (Scent Company), Baldo Baldinini (master blender), Sileno Cheloni (perfumer), Federico Rottigni (alchemist chef), Elisa Polvara (researcher), and Simone Puorto (hospitality futurist), the volume intertwines different disciplines and languages, creating a dialogue between science, creativity, and intuition.
The author
Ilaria Legato is a brand designer and consultant with experience in the hospitality, food, and lifestyle sectors.
Co-author of the Creative Restaurant Branding® method (Hoepli, 2021), she supports entrepreneurs and cultural entities in building multisensory and authentic identities.
She teaches at IED and Schola Academy in Florence, where she coordinates the Master’s programs in Brand Design for Hospitality and Gastronomic Culture and Hospitality.
Her research on olfactory identity, developed at POLI.design under the guidance of Anna Barbara, explores scent as a tool for storytelling, recognition, and differentiation.
A book you can breathe
Io sono Naso is more of an experience than a read: a long breath between creativity and memory.
It restores value to the air around us, to the invisible gesture of recognition, to the secret bond between body and environment.
It is a text that is both poetic and concrete: a manual for professionals and an invitation for everyone to rediscover the essence behind the form.
Because, after all, recognizing oneself does not mean looking at oneself—but smelling oneself.
And perhaps, as Ilaria Legato suggests, the future of hospitality—and of identity itself—lies precisely there:
in the air we breathe.
And when you close the last page, something stays with you.
A subtle trace, like a smell you can’t name but that belongs to you.
Perhaps this, in the end, is the deeper meaning of the book:
recognizing oneself not by looking, but by smelling.
