La Pavoni - an iconic brand for coffee connoisseurs

At Via Privata Gorizia 7 in Lombardy, there's a modern factory where extraordinary coffee machines are made, captivating connoisseurs of this beverage worldwide for over 100 years. Well, to be precise, it started as a tiny manufactory, and the machines captivated in Milan and its surroundings where they were made, but they were so perfectly crafted that their reputation quickly spread across the globe, and today the name La Pavoni sends a pleasant shiver down the spines of coffee lovers.

The brand name comes from the surname of the Italian businessman and manufacturer Desiderio Pavoni, who developed his first bar coffee machine in his small workshop in Milan.

This is La Pavoni's advertising slogan – Coffee machines since 1905. What more could one ask for? The slogan perfectly encapsulates what’s important. After all, La Pavoni is all about coffee machines. Perfect in form. Backed by 100 years of experience in coffee making. If a product isn't up to scratch, no sophisticated advertising slogan will save it!

The history of espresso is the history of... the pressure coffee machine. In 1901, the Italian Luigi Bezzera created his first machine for preparing espresso. This involved passing 25-35 millilitres of hot water under pressure (8.5-9.5 bar) through finely ground and compacted coffee beans. In 1903, Pavoni, already known to us, bought the patent from him, thanks to whom espresso found its way to a wider audience. However, it wasn't until 1947 that another Italian engineer, Giovanni Gaggia, managed to solve the problem of coffee flavour alteration caused by steam in the machine. He invented a different heating system, and nothing stood in the way of espresso conquering the world.

There are two explanations. In Italian, “presso” means pressing, squeezing, and compressing, which are the methods of preparing this coffee. But legend has it that "espresso" also referred to the machines produced by Pavoni, as they were able to prepare over 150 cups of this essential brew in an hour, in record time. And most importantly, it was a ready-to-drink beverage, unlike earlier machinery that only supplied water, which was then poured into the coffee.

Before the Pavoni era, in traditional coffee shops and espresso establishments, coffee was prepared in a rather inefficient (though perhaps impressive) way – a small filter with coffee was placed over a cup, into which boiling water was poured. However, the operation of these filters was slow, so the water quickly lost its temperature, and ultimately the coffee became weak and not very hot.

The charm and strength of the La Pavoni brand lie in its ability to combine a precise, engineering approach to coffee brewing with the flair and imagination inherent in artistic, designer projects.

La Pavoni quickly began collaborating on the design of its coffee machines with leading Italian designers to ensure the machines captivated not only in substance but also in form! At that time, this approach was not obvious; the emphasis was primarily on functionality, with appearance being of secondary importance. As FormAdore, we strongly disagree with such thinking and are delighted that La Pavoni does too!

It's also worth noting that this thinking paid off handsomely for the brand – one of their coffee machines (the Professional model) has been an exhibit and an example of good design in the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1974!

From the very beginning, the brand was also appreciated in various local and international competitions. It won a gold medal at the 1906 fair in Milan and two years later in Marseille, the Grand Prix in Paris in 1910, an honorary diploma in Buenos Aires the same year, and a year later the Grand Prix in Brussels. And all this just a few years after the company was founded...

Another milestone for La Pavoni was the transition of professional coffee machines from cafes (for which the brand initially created, and still does!) to the homes of people who love good coffee but didn't have the tools to make "cafe-quality coffee" at home. Of course, for the commercial market, the brand created professional, automatic, semi-automatic, and electronic models with volumetric dosing, while for home use, the machines could be simpler and smaller, but just as effective!

Currently, the brand's offer includes home espresso machines with portafilters and lever machines (in which we can manually control the water pressure with our own muscle power, giving each cup a unique flavour!), semi-professional and professional coffee machines, and coffee grinders. The commercial line also features a very wide selection of machines for use in smaller and larger cafes.

When Desiderio Pavoni took over from Luigi Bezzera, he was already a recognised businessman who owned thriving businesses – he was the proprietor of Caffè Commercio in Piazza Duomo and several cinemas in Milan. So he knew full well that a great product wasn't everything; you also had to be able to sell it. That's why he named his first coffee machine "Ideale", to simply convey to potential customers that it was the ideal device for preparing excellent coffee. The "Ideale" machine quickly became a market success – at least one sold per day. The product was available in various sizes and versions, and it quickly found buyers abroad too, appearing in French catalogues as early as 1912.

La Pavoni certainly knows this, as it hasn't rested on its laurels. Since the mid-1980s, it has been researching new technological solutions, ideas, and testing new thermoplastic materials that significantly speed up the entire production process. As it turns out, achieving perfection requires hard graft...

At FormAdore, we live by the motto "Our tastes are simple. We are easily satisfied with the best", which is why we're so smitten with the brand and delighted to showcase its products! Can you smell the freshly brewed coffee in the air yet? ;)

Here you'll find all the brand's products available with us. Stylish, aren't they?