L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano W hen people t h i n k o f I t a l i a n e s p r e s s o , t h e y ' r e often imagining a shot that Gaggia helped define. The story starts in Milan in the late 1930s, when A c h i l l e Gaggia pursued a cleaner, hotter extraction that pro- d u c e d a n a t u r a l l a y e r o f crema, cream, on top of cof- fee. That change was epochal, as it tweaked the flavor of the drink itself, but also set the standard for how espresso should look and taste, giving Italy a new coffee identity t h a t s p r e a d f r o m M i l a n ' s cafés to counters around the world. O n S e p t e m b e r 5 , 1 9 3 8 , Gaggia filed Italian patent no. 365726 for the steam-free L a m p o s y s t e m , w h e r e water under pressure would pass through finely ground coffee to extract oils and aro- m a t i c s w i t h o u t s c a l d i n g . P o s t - w a r i m p r o v e m e n t s added lever and spring mech- anisms and popularized the idea of "pulling" a shot, but the principle stayed the same, that is, using controlled pres- s u r e a n d t e m p e r a t u r e t o d e l i v e r a s t a b l e , c r e m a - topped espresso. This is the m o m e n t m a n y h i s t o r i a n s regard as the birth of modern espresso, and it happened in Italy, under a Milanese name that remains on many of our coffee machines still today. Gaggia's considerable tech- nical impact was matched by a fully cultural one, because the company allowed people to bring bar culture home. In 1977, it launched the Baby Gaggia, a compact domestic machine created with design- er Makio Hasuike. For many households, it was the first realistic way to make bar- style espresso at home, and it quickly became popular, as well as a design reference. Indeed, the Baby is a clear example of Made in Italy: engineering packaged with approachable form, meant for everyday use rather than museum shelves. That same blend of practi- cality and Italian design car- ried into the 1990s with the Gaggia Classic. Introduced i n 1 9 9 1 , i t d i s t i l l e d t h e brand's professional DNA into a stainless-steel, service- able body with straightfor- ward controls and room for enthusiasts to grow their s k i l l s . D e c a d e s l a t e r , i t remains a staple in the lineup and a recognizable silhouette on countertops from Milan to Los Angeles. For buyers who care about provenance, Gag- g i a u n d e r s c o r e s t h a t t h e Classic is designed and made in Italy, a very important p o i n t , a s i t c o n n e c t s t h e machine to the same culture that created it in the first place. The professional side of the story is just as Italian. In 2 0 1 8 , t h e G a g g i a M i l a n o brand, which is today part of I t a l y ' s E v o c a G r o u p , w a s relaunched with a new range d e s i g n e d b y t h e B o n e t t o Design Center; flagship mod- els such as La Reale pair classic lines with current t e c h n o l o g y ( i n d e p e n d e n t boilers, precise water deliv- e r y , b a r i s t a - f r i e n d l y ergonomics). Manufacturing for the pro line is in Italy w i t h i n E v o c a ' s i n d u s t r i a l footprint, so that know-how, supply base, and quality con- trols are kept close to home. For consumers, it's impor- tant to know that "Made in Italy" at Gaggia truly means made in Italy: all of the com- pany's automatic machines, as well as key manual models like the Classic and Carezza, are both designed and pro- duced in the Belpaese. This is visible in Gaggia machines' design and packaging, but you also feel it in the way they are built: metal parts where it counts, serviceable assemblies, and a design lan- g u a g e t h a t f a v o r s c l e a r s w i t c h e s a n d p u r p o s e f u l shapes over gimmicks. All supported by a simple idea: Italian engineering that turns a daily routine into a small ritual, with consistency you can count on. If you buy a Gaggia Classic model today, you're getting a platform that can grow with y o u : s t a n d a r d b a s k e t s , a proper steam wand, and a path toward better technique. If you go automatic, you get a clean, push-button route to Italian espresso and milk drinks, backed by a brand whose identity is literally tied to the essence itself of mod- ern caffè all'italiana. And if you step into a bar outfitted with the latest Gaggia Milano machine, you're seeing the professional expression of the s a m e i d e a : m a k e q u a l i t y repeatable, make form serve function, and keep it unmis- takably Italian. S c i p i o n e R i v a - R o c c i ( 1 8 6 3 – 1 9 3 7 ) g a v e t h e w o r l d t h e f i r s t p r a c t i c a l w a y t o measure arterial pressure at t h e b e d s i d e . I n 1 8 9 6 , t h e y o u n g I t a l i a n p h y s i c i a n described a simple device in a Turin medical journal: an i n f l a t a b l e c u f f w r a p p e d around the upper arm, a rub- ber bulb to raise pressure, and a vertical mercury col- umn to show the number. Compared with earlier, awk- w a r d i n s t r u m e n t s t h a t squeezed a finger or relied on e s t i m a t e s , h i s s p h y g m o - m a n o m e t e r w a s c h e a p , portable, and – crucially – numerical, as it turned "hard pulse" and "soft pulse" into millimeters of mercury. The method was simple: the cuff was inflated until the radial pulse at the wrist dis- appeared; the height of the mercury at that instant was taken as systolic pressure. Riva-Rocci's original cuff was n a r r o w , w h i c h t e n d e d t o overestimate readings, but the idea worked so well that refinements came quickly. In 1901, von Recklinghausen i n t r o d u c e d a w i d e r c u f f , improving accuracy. In 1905, the Russian surgeon Nikolai Korotkoff added the stetho- scope, listening at the elbow for the sounds that appear a n d d i s a p p e a r a s t h e c u f f deflates; this made it possible to record both systolic and diastolic values. Together, the cuff and the sounds creat- ed the standard we still use. The impact of Riva-Rocci's invention was immediate. Italian and European hospi- tals adopted the device, and the American neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing, after seeing it in Italy, brought it back to the United States and pro- moted its use in surgery and general practice. Suddenly, physicians could track hyper- tension, gauge shock, and fol- low a patient through anes- thesia with a number that could be compared from day to day and from one clinic to another. Charts filled with a new unit, mmHg, and a new abbreviation, RR, still used in many countries to mean "blood pressure," in honor of Riva-Rocci. M e r c u r y c o l u m n s h a v e largely disappeared for envi- ronmental reasons, and elec- tronic oscillometric monitors now dominate, but they rest on the same principle Riva- Rocci established: a cuff that o c c l u d e s t h e a r t e r y a n d a c o n t r o l l e d r e l e a s e t h a t reveals the pressure within it. Riva Rocci and his cuff (Image created with DALL-E 2) Scipione Riva-Rocci and the birth of the blood pressure cuff Gaggia, the Italian name behind modern espresso A vintage Gaggia coffee machine (Image created with DALL-E 2) IMPRESA ITALIA MADE IN ITALY TOP BRANDS BUSINESS & ECONOMY

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