Translated by Gary Seeman.




In the summer of 2014 I had a chance to go to Italy for my holidays and more specifically near Venice.
Venice aaaaah …

Its sublime Italians …
Its gondolas …



Its facades announcing the palaces
 of the Grand Canal.








I share my wanderings on the net about coffee. This acquaints me with many people, including two Italian collectors,
 Davide and Lucio.

I do not know how it came together, but I was invited to visit Davide Veronne with a highlight of that visit to
the Cagliari Museum of coffee machines. (I will return to Lucio in Trieste in another topic.






My first meeting took place in Verona at Davide’s home.
He’s a very welcoming young man and eager to have me explore what he calls his “chaos.”
We spent a little time at his home, time to get better acquainted.
My English doesn’t allow me to do better than a little.

Too bad for Davide, he will not be subjected to my clumsy puns vaseux … oh, maybe that’s better in the end.



     As soon as you cross the threshold at David’s place, you risk running into weird stuff.
But fortunately it is safe for our feet.






And then I encountered the machine, what do I say, the fantastic La San Marco Disco Volante from the 1950s.
What a prize! What a beauty!


The operation of this machine leaves me speechless, because after lowering the lever,
 it is the group that descends and rises during extraction. It's very original.




Davide, like any good collector, is stealthy in his discoveries -- amazing things like this sugar dispenser.
 Only nine of this model are known. It dispenses sugar by slightly tilting the ball. This is surprising. A magnificent object.





Then Davide invites me to come see his "chaos" as he calls it.
And talk about chaos! This is what is behind the door when one just barely enters his garage.





A La San Marco, Lollobrigida, no less.
In a shining state, which only asks you to put it to work.

Then we raise our eyes and discover a jumble, an inextricable tangle of all kinds of things ... but many coffee machines,
whole or disassembled, and drawers filled with springs, pistons, etc. I cannot guess if my photos convey what I saw that day.






Shelves of grinders An odd valve on a Faemina This is a rare gas Faemina, set on I do not know exactly what machine, but in front of an exotic Casino two group of Hungarian origin







This is what is displayed before my eyes … 
Can I dig? 




A portion of a rare machine and more than "ultra" sought after. And it rests on the tank from another machine. Davide’s storage is perplexing :-)



A gigantic puzzle of machines, an Ali Baba cave of coffee makers.






I'll let you imagine reconstructing various machines ...

and before leaving we visit the Cagliari museum with Davide and his lovely dad. There I encounter another machine so coveted around the world. Yes, no less.  I hope you will recognize it, it’s an enjoyable puzzle to discover the machine in question.






The time spent at Davide’s passed by too quickly, much too quickly. But that's how it is when you have a good time. Here is the FB page of this wonderful and passionate collector.

https://www.facebook.com/EspressoVintagePassion










Ah Lucio, his madness blog, what must be a devouring passion, the friendliness revealed in his online comments ...
I was excited to meet Lucio in person.
We agreed to meet in Trieste where we could tour the city.
What better way than to be guided by a native?  
Lucio is as I had imagined, smiling, outgoing, cheerful, and friendly.
No sooner had we gone out than we were taking a coffee break at a roaster he knew.




The roaster has a small shop downtown, but a super nice home. I was even given a small sample of coffee by the boss. Here’s Lucio proudly posing in front of the roaster at that shop. The shop, though small, has all that’s needed for brewing the coffee.




It was getting late, and the tour of the city was at an end. But Lucio did not stop there and proposed a detour for a traditional snack at the corner. It’s a  tradition here for winemakers to take turns opening their cellars to taste their wines, when they offer Italian cheeses and local cold cuts.
This interlude presented itself via a path unlikely in a tiny village.
One finds it with a bouquet of holly hung at the entrance gate.
This is the kind of unexpected discovery I like.
And this is what was served to accompany the wine. I won’t comment on the wine, even under torture!

Unforgettable.


And as if this were not enough, Lucio pulled out his phone to call his wife and alert her that we were going to visit his collection of coffee makers. Ah! Lucio’s coffeemakers!! Fantastic!

To understand their graciousness, there were six of us! Six surprise guests invited to their home, and in the evening.




Upon entry one is assailed by a wave of machines.





And also in the kitchen …















Lucio shows me a few original, historic machines.

















I think one can look a thousand times at the same machine, and the same passion as always animates the mind.

Then we go to the upper room where we expect a certain amount of coffee gear ...





You can even see some levers here and there, though they aren’t common!




The treasure chest is actually an advertising trunk for Lavazza!




Rare Electa More Hungarian machines Equally unusual Imas not advertised because it resembles La Peppina too closely.




It is already late, and we still must hit the road.

Lucio offers a final demonstration before we leave.

 

And I want to warmly thank his wife so graciously and kindly
received such an armada .





Lucio’s blog, extremely well documented, and which brings new updates with an astonishing regularity.


http://caffettiere.blogspot.fr/