With a little encouragement and a few loaned tools from a fellow HBer, I did a partial rebuild on my Pasquini this weekend. All the gaskets are in decent enough shape, so really this was mostly about removing the insulation on the boiler, descaling, and cleaning the gunk out of the steam wand. Unfortunately, I was pretty lackadaisical about taking proper photos.

Nice! You will enjoy it. The Livietta is a great machine. Several have come and gone, but the Livietta was my first serious espresso machine and I always come back to it. Good job organizing your screws! I lazily just lay everything out on the counter. Amazingly even a year later, I can still remember/manage to figure out where everything goes (luckily). It is definitely better to be organized though

Thanks for sharing.

Two questions if you don't mind:

• Was that some sort of insulating clay around the boiler initially?
• Is that a safety thermostat under the heating element (the little cylinder)?

The boiler insulation is a spray on insulation containing Asbestos. If it is in good condition, it can be left alone, but if it is starting to come loose or it is letting off dust particles, it must be removed under water and disposed off. That little pocket below the coil is for a thermostat.

In my case, the insulation looked like it had been struck by a wrench that slipped. Doubtless, that single point was going to start spreading.