Hi,
I have been beset by multiple power switch failures on my la pavoni professional. It heats up enough that one of the blades that the wires attach to ( on the power side) melts the plastic housing and loses contact with the rest of the switch. It does not blow the fuse, although I have replaced it just in case it was defective. The machine will work fine after replacing the switch, but eventually the same thing happens again. Very frustrating at 6:30 am! does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

How many times has this happened? Usually, when a switch fails in this way, overheating, it is caused by arcing (sparking) between the switch contacts. This in turn is usually caused by incomplete contact between the contacts. You might be getting a bad run of switches from your supplier. You might try replacing the switch with one which is rated for a higher wattage than the original. There is nothing special about the La Pavoni switch and you should be able to source one that physically fits into the rectangular hole in the base.
If there is a partial short in the heating element, (which causes less resistance in the circut) this might also cause the switch to get hot and melt due to too many amps going through it, but usually this condition would blow the fuse before the switch melts.
Cheers,
Sandy

In case you missed it, here's the link to a recent thread with a similar question:

Europiccola switch problem, how do I troubleshoot?