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# Bialetti—And His Legendary Pot
- URL: https://naivenotions.com/bialetti-and-his-legendary-pot/
- Published: 2026-09-17T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-17T08:59:59.000Z
- Description: The Bialetti Moka Express is more than a way of making coffee. It is a small piece of industrial history, an icon of Italian design, and a reminder that an ordinary morning can still contain a little ceremony.
- Author: trondh
- Tags: Objects

Coffee is one of the most important things in life. Or rather, it is not coffee as such, but *good* coffee that matters. Waking in the morning, grinding a few carefully chosen beans, drawing fresh water from the tap, deciding how to prepare the coffee on this particular day, noticing the aroma, and finally sitting down with the finished cup—these things matter to me. It is a contemplative activity, and one I value highly.

Coffee-brewing equipment comes in many forms. Fortunately, there are manufacturers who care not only about function but also about style—and who allow a classic design to endure rather than replacing it with something new every few years. These are the kinds of objects we appreciate at Naive Notions. Bialetti is one of the companies that has managed to create and sustain a tradition of coffee equipment that lifts the making of coffee beyond the ordinary, even when the object itself is used every day.

The best-known example is the Moka Express: the small, octagonal aluminium pot that has stood on Italian stovetops for generations. It is simple enough to be familiar, yet distinctive enough to be recognised at a glance. Its form seems almost inevitable now, as if the moka pot had always looked this way. But, like most things that come to feel timeless, it began at a particular moment and with a particular person.

### From an aluminium workshop to the Italian kitchen

In 1919, **Alfonso Bialetti** (1888-1970) opened a workshop in Crusinallo, a small town in Piedmont in northern Italy. He had learned techniques for casting aluminium while working in France, and his new business initially produced semi-finished aluminium parts. Over time, the workshop developed from a supplier of components into a place where complete objects could be designed and manufactured.

The Moka Express appeared in 1933\. According to the story told by [Bialetti](https://www.bialetti.com/it%5Fen/inspiration/post/An-idea-with-a-mustache-do-you-know-who-invented-the-moka?ref=naivenotions.com), Alfonso found inspiration in the lisciveuse, an early laundry device used by his wife, Ada. Water was heated in a container and forced upwards through a central tube before being distributed over the clothes. Alfonso adapted the same basic idea to coffee: heat creates pressure, the pressure moves water upwards, and the water passes through something on its way.

In the moka pot, the lower chamber holds the water. As it heats, increasing pressure pushes the water through a funnel filled with ground coffee. The brewed coffee then continues through a narrow column and emerges in the upper chamber. It is a small piece of engineering theatre, mostly concealed inside an object with no buttons, screen or electrical cable. No lamp is lit when the coffee is ready; you just listen to the changing sound. 

Aluminium was an important part of the idea. Light, durable and an excellent conductor of heat, it was also a material associated with modernity in the 1930s. Anyone who has used such a pot must have noticed how fast the material warms up and cools down when rinsing it in water. It is quite remarably, really. In a way, the Moka Express belonged to two worlds at once: the old domestic world of the hearth on the one hand, and the emerging industrial world of efficient, repeatable production on the other. Its eight-sided body made it easier to grip while also giving the pot a memorable silhouette. Function and appearance were not separate concerns; they became the same object.

The name carries a wider history. Moka refers to Mokha, the Yemeni port that was once famous as a centre of the coffee trade. An object that came to symbolise Italian coffee culture was therefore named after a place far beyond Italy—a quiet reminder that coffee has always travelled between countries and cultures before arriving in our kitchens.

### The son who turned a pot into an icon

The first Moka Expresses were produced on an artisanal scale and sold mainly in the local area. Production was interrupted during the Second World War. The decisive change came after the war, when Alfonso’s son **Renato** took charge of the company. Alfonso had invented the moka pot, but Renato understood how to turn it into a mass-produced product and a recognisable brand.

From the late 1940s, production expanded, and the Moka Express moved beyond the markets of Piedmont. Renato promoted it at the Milan Fair, developed an export business and invested heavily in advertising. In 1953, the illustrator **Paul Campani** created l’Omino con i baffi—the Little Man with the Moustache—reportedly modelled on Renato himself. The sharply dressed figure, with one finger raised, became the company emblem and later appeared in animated advertisements on the Italian television programme Carosello.

It was a clever pairing. The moka pot was an industrial product, but the little man gave it a face and a touch of domestic comedy. Even today, he remains printed on the side of the pot, as though keeping watch while the coffee rises.

Industrial production usually changes an object. Materials become cheaper, shapes are altered, and once-familiar products gradually lose their character. The remarkable thing about the Moka Express is how little its essential form and mechanism have changed. There are now different sizes, colours and models—including stainless-steel versions for induction hobs—but the original aluminium pot remains instantly recognisable. Its place in the Architecture and Design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York only confirms what everyday use had already established: this practical kitchen utensil is also an accomplished piece of design.

### Coffee made by listening

The moka pot is sometimes called a stovetop espresso maker, although this is not quite accurate. A modern espresso machine normally brews at around nine bars of pressure, while a moka pot operates at roughly 1.5 bars. The result is not true espresso, but a strong and concentrated coffee with a character of its own—richer than ordinary filter coffee, but less dense than a café espresso.

Using it well is uncomplicated. Fill the lower chamber with water up to the safety valve, but never above it. Place the funnel inside and fill it with coffee ground somewhat coarser than espresso. Level the grounds without pressing or tamping them. Screw the two halves firmly together and put the pot over low heat. Then wait.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8c/2c/8c2ce2c7-5879-4029-9e66-946c52079641/content/images/2026/09/DSCF5726.jpeg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8c/2c/8c2ce2c7-5879-4029-9e66-946c52079641/content/images/2026/09/DSCF5737.jpeg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8c/2c/8c2ce2c7-5879-4029-9e66-946c52079641/content/images/2026/09/DSCF5742.jpeg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8c/2c/8c2ce2c7-5879-4029-9e66-946c52079641/content/images/2026/09/DSCF5746.jpeg)

The coffee and a slice of bread with homemade strawberry jam

At first, nothing seems to happen. Soon the aroma begins to escape, and the dark coffee appears in the upper chamber. When the pot starts to gurgle, the brewing is finished, and it should be removed from the heat. Once it has cooled, the classic aluminium model should be taken apart, rinsed with warm water and dried thoroughly. The gasket and filter will eventually need replacing, but this is part of the appeal: the object is designed to be maintained rather than discarded.

This is a brewing method I tend to make use of when staying at our cabin. At home, the espresso machine and the perculator get the most attention, but there is something with this procedure that seems to resonate with the more "manual" lifestyle employed at leisure time. Making a cup of coffee and preparing a slice of bread with homemade jam around noon is one of the things that sets my cabin life apart from my everyday activities, and after this investigation into the history of the moka pot, I feel a bit more connected to the past. I highly appreciate such a connection in the objects I use.