Hello everyone!

It's been quite some time since I've visited the forums. In the past year, my wife and I left the comforts of our home in Seattle and traveled the world. Most of the areas we visited unfortunately left us without or limited wifi access, hence my absence from the forums. I know that I received several messages over the past year via PM and I've been meaning to reply back (be it extremely late), but unfortunately it seems that my message history has been flushed. If you would like to get a hold of me, please feel free to message me back and I'll reply ASAP.

Now on to the topic at hand!

One of the cities we were fortunate enough to visit was Florence, Italy. My dear wife took it upon herself to surprise me with a private tour of the La Marzocco Factory! The tour began in the display lobby with a a few expertly pulled shots of a local single origin.



Then our tour guide spent the next hour explaining the history of the company. If any of you are unfamiliar with La Marzocco's past, it wasn't exactly a very smooth one. I'll spare you the details since I have a ton of photos to share.






We were then taken to the research and development area where all the crazy ideas and prototypes are born. Unfortunately, I'm only allowed to share this single photo for the sake of confidentiality.



From this point onward, the tour guide brought us through the entire assembly of a complete machine.

Here are where the steel boilers are cut, cleaned, drilled, assembled, and welded.











The completed boilers are then sent over to another part of the factory where the groupheads are welded then assembled.




This is where the initial bench testing begins. The assembled boilers are fitted into a reference machine and stress tested to 18 bar.



In another area, third party components (Gicar parts, solenoids, etc) are tested and then assembled onto "OK'd" boilers.






Another round of bench testing.



Next is the electrical assembly.



Then a completely separate area for wiring. The bane of my existence.



After the wiring, the machine undergoes another series of bench testing before the panels and adornments are fitted. One final round of bench testing is completed before the product is shipped on its way to its lucky owner. In the case of machines sent to areas like the US, the final bench test is done at the North American headquarters here in Seattle, WA.



In total, the tour took about 4 hours. I loved every minute. Before parting ways, I was introduced to Piero Bambi, but in my fanboy excitement, I totally forgot to ask for a photo together. Maybe it is for the best since it gives me a reason to return next year to the grand opening of their La Marzocco University.

Thanks for taking the time to read through my post! I tried keeping it brief and full of photos. If you have any questions, feel free to reply here or shoot me a PM. Thanks!

-Sebastian

Beautiful! Did you get a chance to show off your custom mistral?

Ha! I was actually trying to refrain from bringing it up. The tour guide ended bringing it out of me since she was curious as to how I knew so much about the machines and the issues that techs usually come across when bench testing them. I think it was when we got into a discussion about the switch from a bolted grouphead to welded ones in the Lineas that tipped her off. My wife asked me to show the guide the photos of my projects on my phone and she proceeded to pass it around to her coworkers. Not going to lie, I was happy to see the looks on their faces.

Wow !!

Very Nice & thanks for the pics of your tour!
You have a great wife to set that up for you
Congrats & thanks again for the pics/tour

Fantastic! Thanks for all the great pictures. I visited Florence last fall and looked into doing the tour but unfortunately the timing of my trip was bad as they were in the middle of a factory renovation and the tours were all cancelled. Hoping to make it another time.

Mania, thank you for your kind words. I am blessed to have such a thoughtful wife.

Keno, there were also some conflicts in scheduling the tour since we were also there for a wedding. My wife in her infinite wisdom managed to sway them to conduct a tour on a closed day however. I definitely lucked out on that.

Thanks for posting this. Sounds like you have an amazing wife.

It's my pleasure. It makes me happy to share things like this. Hopefully for anyone on the fence for a visit, this will give them the push they need to go for it.