««It is most lonely for someone who keeps a coffee machine for one person», said Massimo Troisi in Sorry for the delaynext to the beautiful Giuliana De Sio. And who better than a Neapolitan – the home of suspended coffee – could express the idea of sociality behind this drink with irony and poetry? In Italy, the coffee it’s not just a natural remedy to stay awake with a caffeine hit: it is sociality, sharing, history and identity. A daily ritual that spans generations, a gesture that encompasses bonds and culture. Just today, 125 years ago – more precisely on November 19, 1901 – Luigi Bezzera patented the first espresso coffee machine, destined to revolutionize the way of drinking coffee in bars. In 1933, Alfonso Bialetti transformed the industrial machine into mochaintended for domestic use and to change the daily lives of millions of Italians.
The espresso coffee machine: the invention that changed Italy
Bezzera’s machine used steam and pressure to quickly extract the coffee, creating that typical crema that still distinguishes Italian espresso today. A few years later, the patent was purchased by Desire Pavoniwhich started industrial production and spread the drink to bars throughout Italy. In the 1930s, Achille Gaggia he perfected the system with the piston lever, making the espresso even more creamy and aromatic.
Coffee as a social ritual
Coffee immediately surpassed the role of a simple drink: in bars and squares it became a real social ritual. The gesture of preparing and sharing a cup tells stories of meetings, chats, work and leisure. As coffee historians explain, the espresso machine transformed the daily break into a moment of relationship and convivialitymaking the bar the “living room” of the city.
Coffee as a symbol of identity
From the espresso served in a few seconds to the steaming mocha for breakfast, coffee remains a bridge between generations. It is a daily ritual that unites, excites and identifies: each cup contains history, culture and sociality. The drink is also linked tonational identity: the cream, the intense aroma, the quick preparation have become distinctive features of Italian culture in the world. L’espresso tells the story of an Italy made up of passion for taste, attention to quality and daily ritualswho made coffee not just a pleasure, but a real one symbol of Italiannesscapable of representing cities, historic cafés and family habits.
Design, innovation and tradition
The espresso machine is also a symbol of Italian technology and design. In the 1930s, Achille Gaggia revolutionized the design with the piston lever, which not only improved the espresso, but added an element visual and scenographic to the gesture of the bartender, transforming preparation into a daily spectacle. At the same time, the mocha by Alfonso Bialetti of 1933 brought the design into the homes of Italians: simple, compact and iconic, with its octagonal aluminum shape, the moka became an emblematic object of thedomestic Italianness.
From the bar to the specialty coffee
Today the coffee culture is experiencing a new season. Historic bars continue to be the beating heart of city life, but they have developed more and more specialty coffee: a real one culture of tasting. It’s not simply about drinking a cup: it’s an appreciative approach origin, quality, aroma, roasting and preparationturning every cup into an experience complete sensorial.
Coffee culture in the world
In every corner of the world, coffee is more than a drink: it is identity, sociality and rituality. In Türkiye(known as cezve) is strong and dense, served in small cups without filtering and often accompanied by wad readingthe residue that remains at the bottom of the cup interpreted as a sign or omen. In culture Ethiopianhistorical homeland of the drink, the coffee ceremony it is a social ritual: the beans are toasted, ground and prepared in front of the guests, celebrating community and hospitality. In Japanthe drink turns into art of precisionthanks to manual methods such as pour-overwhich emphasize every detail of the extraction and make the preparation a true sensorial experience. A universal language that changes flavor and meaning depending on the culture, but which continues to unite people.
iO Donna © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED