I'm moving from warm and sunny SoCal to not so warm and sunny New England in several months time, so I have a lot of decision to make and hopefully a lot of stuff to clear out. This is one of about 8 machines that I need to clear out because there's just no way that I'm taking them with me.




This is very nice La Pavoni Romantica manual lever espresso machine. It's the larger "16 cup" version, similar to a La Pavoni Professional. It's been restored to excellent working and cosmetic condition. It has new piston seals, a new lever arm, and a new boiler cap/vacuum-breaker/safety-valve. Most of the brass has had the clear coat stripped off so that it can develop a nice patina. Key bits that come into contact with food have been left coated because removing the coat mean committing to not polishing it, so the steam wand, the milk frothing attachment, and the portafilter all still have a protective coat on them. The boiler is also still coated because I couldn't remove the coating with food save solvents and didn't want to move into more aggressive stripping agents. You can choose to let the machine patina and tarnish or keep it golden and shinny, a periodic wipe down with a flannel cloth with brass polish residue is enough. The wooden handles are in very good condition, although Dave's work is far superior. The portafilter has been modified with a groove and a spring clip to hold the baskets in, just like the current La Pavoni models. The group has been fitted with a custom heat breaking teflon gasket that holds a Taylor thermometer that reads the group temperature, removing the guesswork from pulling a really great shot.



The machine has the following faults:

• The combination of coated and uncoated parts is a bit complicated. I think it's preferable to a fully coated machine because a clear coat does not age well and cannot be polished or repaired. I would probably prefer to have the boiler free of clear coat, but whatever's on there is pretty darn tough and looks good.
• A dent in the back right hand side of the boiler was repaired by my favorite local machine shop. They did a job but there's still some distortion in the reflection. It was disappointing to not be able to bring this back to as-new condition, but it's a pretty minor thing.
• The piston head is still the nylon one that has been reported to separate from the steel shaft. I've that problem first hand on other Mill LPs before, it's real and a legitimate issue. I checked the fit when I last serviced the group with the thought of replacing it with a brass head. It was secure and given that the machine has been in service for some time now I would not expect the fit to fail.

It comes with a 51mm Espro-style "calibrated" tamper, although these machines do best with a very light tamp.

This particular configuration of the La Pavoni lever machines is unfortunately out of production. The all brass construction means that it will not rust. The Romanica boiler moves the steam knob away from the hot pressure gauge. The multifunctional boiler cap places the vacuum breaker and safety valve out of sight, leaving more room around the steam want. It really is one of the better configurations of the La Pavoni parts bin. I've thought of holding on to this one instead of my Stradivari, but I stumbled into a very cheap Cremina to rebuild and will be letting both go instead

Currently I think a Professional is about $1000, and this was $1600 when it was being produced.

This does come with the milk auto frothing attachment, but I would recommend just learning how to steam milk with the wand...it's simpler and a lot easier to keep clean.

Price: $650
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Shipping: Local pickup preferred, buyer pays shipping & packaging (I'm an efficient and thorough packager)