“L’omino con i baffi”

http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-02-22/remembering-little-man-mustache-who-made-coffee-all


Coffee icon gets buried in espresso maker

By Yaron Steinbuch

February 18, 2016 | 9:54am
Modal Trigger Coffee icon gets buried in espresso maker
Renato Bialetti's ashes were buried in a stovetop espresso maker.

Renato Bialetti, the man behind the iconic octagonal coffee pot from Italy, has died, and his freshly ground ashes were buried in a fitting urn — a giant version of the Moka that made him famous.

Modal TriggerThe Rev. Pietro Segato, the parish priest of Casale Corte Cerro, at Bialetti’s burial service in northern Italy.

The 93-year-old’s children, Alessandra, Antonello and Alfonso, brewed up the plan to bury their dad’s remains in a stovetop espresso maker on Monday, La Stampa reported.

The pot was blessed by a priest at a church in his hometown of Casale Corte Cerro in Piemonte, then buried next to his wife, Elia, in nearby Omegna, The Local of Italy reported.

Bialetti didn’t invent the classic pot, but he turned it into a must-have object in kitchens around the globe.

His dad, Alfonso, an aluminum vendor, acquired a patent for the gizmo in 1933 — but it failed to catch on with the espresso-savvy Italian public.

In fact, by the time Renato took over the company in 1947, a mere 70,000 pots had been made.

The younger Bialetti pumped a major marketing campaign into the Moka. Among his ideas was adorning all the pots with the caricature of himself, a mascot known as “L’omino con i baffi” — the little man with the mustache.

Business perked up quickly. As of today, some 330 million of the pots have been sold worldwide.