I am updating how I got the President and Zodiaco.

Beyond the thread discussing whether to get the President here I was at a decision to buy it. To say yes or no to the Faema President Reflecting on that thread I now see it was so obvious for me to get the President in my situation then.

Going back and forth between the vendor I figured out he was a flipper based off my interaction with him and the pics/room the President was in, buying all sorts of random trinkets and antiques for resale. It was pretty wild he lived in the exact town the support site I lived in was located. Literally five minutes away from his apartment.

Here I was flying to Italy from the US, with a 10 hour layover in Barcelona to boot, and 7am the very next day I was up and bringing an Italian friend to look at the machine. I had Burger King with a complimentary beer at the airport during the layover to ease the burden of being awake for so long. That was pretty wild and the beer was pretty good considering it was from a fast food restaurant.


The vendor had a very strong neapolitan accent leaving me a little behind the curve with what he was saying specifically but understanding the general meaning. He claimed it was working but taking a look at it there was no wiring, the manometer was missing, the one original portafilter was cracked, and it was quite rusty inside. I tried haggling with him but he would not budge from his original price. He bought new replacement steam + hot water arms, a portafilter, and manometer to justify his refusal to budge in price. He also had some knowledge these could be sold for much more than what he was asking restored. I could understand why he did this. I was privately talking to my buddy in English on whether to go with the original price, which amusingly the vendor complained he could not understand what we were saying.

Initially I decided to think about it for a bit and went to the bar for some 'consulting' with some espresso. My original goal was getting €150 off the original price, just under 10% of the total price, so as final decision I offered a price €50 less from the original price. That got his interest. I am not sure how he did it but I am pretty certain he moved the President alone into his car and zipped over to drop it off at the bar where my friend picked up and gave him the funds.

My bar friend and the employees were fascinated at this machine, which even in unrestored condition looked gorgeous. I finished my caffè then safely tucked it in my apartment for moving day.

One interesting note is after I left Italy the same vendor had a rare Eureka Superba 3 group for sale, albeit in pretty nasty condition. I was unable to snatch it up but I want to know where he finds these machines!



The Faema Zodiaco was a very unexpected Facebook Marketplace find. Old commercial lever machines really do not pop up that often in New England it feels (maybe besides NYC) compared to the treasure trove of Europe. It was listed in November 2019 while I was finishing my final semester, and I initially was looking for a project espresso machine for my machine shop head Lab instructor. He did not have the time nor the space to fix up this machine so I left it alone hoping someone else would snag it. Obviously I simply could not stand it and got it for myself this past January. Another factor was the machine was located ten minutes from where I lived and was a coincidence another machine was listed so close to me.

The seller's father was the original owner that bought it for a bakery before it sat in the kitchen for a while at their non-denomination faith center. She did not know how to use it but was glad I was the buyer since I wanted to spruce it up and add it to my growing collection. I had the Enrico Maltoni Faema book so I showed her the original brochures for the model which she simply adored. I send her pics on my progress and will invite her to try it out once I get around to finishing it up.

I originally thought to myself I would buy it and fix it as practice for the President, but now it appears to be the opposite scenario . I also 'borrowed' a few parts that I bought replacements for, notably the lever forks and levers themselves. I will eventually put them back on the Zodiaco when I spruce up the President levers or get reproductions made.

What triggered the passion for coffee and lever machines? You being a young lad and all that Specially getting into restoring then.

Or did you cover that in another thread?

quoting myself from the LMWDP thread LMWDP Rollcall

After being an H-B member for just over a year now, and with my various upgrades, I am throwing my portafilter into the ring. My actual name is Ryan, an American who has had the unique experience to live in Italy for over four years now, during my last two years in high school and now college years as an ECE major.

I did not drink coffee until my senior year in high school, when I took up the humble position of cart collector for a NEXCOM facility. On a military installation overseas, there are various locals that can be hired for positions, and I worked closely with customer service (besides carts I also placed returns on the floor). I became close friends with a core group of six Italians who would use a humble little electric moka pot for break multiple times per day. Intrigued, I asked how it was done and they obliged. I then became the unofficial coffee person around the store when I perfected it. I found a similar one used for 5 euro that I brought with me for my first year of college. During this time I would only use pre-ground coffee (primarily kimbo which was sent by my parents from Italy. We have a US postal address so it was pretty cheap to ship).



Nothing of note happened until Christmas break, when I returned to Italy and met a veteran distributor of La Pavoni Machines. His name is Tony, and runs a ferramenta store (hardware) in Naples area. He has sold La Pavoni machines for over 45 years at this point. He introduced me to the lever machine, and it changed my outlook on coffee. I was extremely fascinated with the simple yet elegant design of the manual lever. He noted that it was a little more difficult to learn in place of something like an HX or E61 machine, but he claimed it could produce superior shots if properly handled.

I took to this as a challenge, and promised myself to master the La Pavoni when I was able to obtain one. At the time I thought 560 euro for the europiccola EL was too expensive, so I started searching for used ones as my Spring Semester passed by when I returned to Italy. I did not find one until June of 2017, when I found a used 1991 Professional for 300 euro