La Pavoni Spa was founded in Milan in 1905 thanks to Desiderio Pavoni in a little workshop at Via Parini. His first invention was patented by Luigi Bezzera, on 1st September 1902, duly registered at the Milan State office on 19th September 1903, and gave life to the first espresso coffee machine for bar called "Ideale".

It was a vertical machine, with a boiler kept at a constant pressure by a gas-ring which it rested on, or by means of electricity, with side brewing groups (from 1 to 4) supported by inside hooks and had a filter for ground coffee.

By opening a knob, at a pressure of 1,5 bar, water first and then steam passed through the ground coffee in the filter, enabling the brewing of the espresso, which - in one minute - was ready in the cup; the machine was also fitted with some knobs to get hot water or steam to prepare hot drinks.

Being the first machine of its kind to be marketed, this model spread the fashion of drinking Italian style "espresso" coffee at the bar, in Europe, first, and then around the whole world.

La Pavoni today

Since the middle of the eighties, the company has been studying new ideas and creating panels in thermoplastic materials, speeding up the production cycle considerably. Great attention has been paid to ergonomics, as well as to research into new technological developments.

In the commercial market, besides the traditional lever and semiautomatic machines, some electronic, some with volumetric dosing, and other reliable models have been introduced. The latest one, a fully automatic modular machine, enables espresso coffees and cappuccinos to be prepared in a few seconds, excluding all manual operation.

The same principles are also applied to the domestic machines, which include a wide range of models enabling the preparation of excellent coffee at home.

Leaders in domestic machines, the Europiccola and Professional represent a co-ordination of elegance, quality and reliability; manufactured since 1961, these machines will never be out of fashion; the Professional is exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

On 29 January 1999 La Pavoni obtained the UNI EN ISO 9001 certification (number 9130 PAV2) and IQ Net - registration number IT-8070 issued by the competent Certification Institutes and the conformity to the norms ISO 9001:2000 of 14 November 2003.