The Collection of Francesco Soriano

#1: Post by **IamOiman** » December 18th, 2021, 7:53 am

So I just got the exciting news that a personal friend in Italy is opening up to showing off his collection. Prior to this he has been very private and did not want to publicly post about his machine. I have mentioned him a few times in the past without identifying him. I met him through another Italian contact that sells domestic machines (Giuseppe Barone). His name is Francesco Soriano. He has asked me to do an introduction post before he starts posting, which I will happily do.

He has a very large collection, over 50 machines I think but do not know for certain. Just yesterday I sent him a link for him to purchase since he was very close to it

. A late series Eurobar with matching grinder. Consider me his partner in crime, where we try to find deals on espresso machines. I hold him close to my heart, and will be meeting him in person for the first time in Italy next month.

It is also a special collection. He has multiple machines of which there are less than 10 examples known existing, and a few of which there are less than 5 existing. I will hold the machine models close to my chest and let him spoil you with the pics

.

December 18th, 2021, 12:08 pm

Very excited to see a of this. Thanks for keeping all of us in loop. You are like a Indiana Jones of the Espresso world

#3: Post by **FCoffeeLove** » December 18th, 2021, 2:13 pm

Hello all, i am Francesco Soriano from Italy and i wanted to say tanks to my friend Ryan Lee for this presentation of me, i hold you in my heart too, i am looking forward to see you in person next month here in Italy, and thanks again also because you helped me to find this new rare machine.
I think many of you already now about me, i started to research old bar espresso machines since a long while and probably i have been lucky sometimes. My collection include about 50 machines, i love the 50's style, but they are not all from 50's, i have machines also of 60's and 70's.
I will add some pictures of some my machines to this post sometimes, i am proud to own some very rare model, i think my top is a 2 groups La San Marco Lollobrigida (rarer than the 1 group, but not everybody knows).
Generally I don't look for domestic machines, but i become interested when they are rare, at the moment only 2 domestic machines in my collection with this new purchase of the La Pavoni Eurobar, the second one is the Celemax Micronexpress.
I am really nice to meet you all, in our continue research fever. Sorry if my English is not that well.
Thanks to all, thanks again to Ryan.
Best regards,
Francesco Soriano

#4: Post by **FCoffeeLove** » December 18th, 2021, 3:11 pm

I would like to begin with one of my latest purchases
A Faema Mercurio 1956 second series, V group, in very good conditions. Ryan and me will take care of it when he will come here in Italy.
I consider it a very beautiful machine, for its shape, I always desired to own one, I did not still..

#5: Post by **cedar** » December 19th, 2021, 11:38 pm

Welcome Francesco,

Oh my, am I looking forward to what you will show us. Thank you for doing this.

cheers,

Stephen

#6: Post by **FCoffeeLove** » December 20th, 2021, 6:58 am

I continue to present my collection by showing you a machine that I am very proud to own. The La Cimbali Ala 1 lever group, it is the first machine built with a horizontal boiler in the 40s. The first were built with the steam group, the lever group did not exist yet. At the end of the 40s La Cimbali adapted the lever group on this model already existing in the version with steam group. We can say that it was one of the very first lever machines and consider it a transition model between the two coffee extraction systems. There are some examples of this steam-powered machine, but I know of only one other example with lever group and 1 group version, however the second example is not in excellent condition like this one. Its dimensions are compact (not noticeable in the photos). The surprising thing is that this machine is complete in all its parts and is in perfect working order.

December 20th, 2021, 9:11 am

It is pretty small, I saw a few photos of it next to some other machines and it is maybe similar to the size of a Lambro. The other one is in the possesion of George/Specialist Espresso in Australia if I remember correctly.

#8: Post by **drgary** » May 6th, 2022, 8:50 pm

I love that La Cimbali Ala and hope that Francesco will show more of his collection here or can point us to where we can view these rare treasures.