Farewell Renato Bialetti, The Coffeepot King

There was only one way to go.

When Renato Bialetti died last week in Switzerland aged 93, his family was tasked with organising the funeral ceremony for one of Italy’s most famous sons.

Renato’s father, Alfonso, invented the Moka pot, an octagonal stovetop device that is used to make coffee.

Well-aware of its practicality, Renato would be the one to ensure it became a global success.

So, for a man who ensured that the family name became synonymous with coffee, there was only one way to go. His three children – Alfonso, Antonella and Alessandra – decided that their father’s work should be honoured.

To do so, they placed his ashes in a giant version of the coffee pot he helped make famous.

The funeral was held in the village of his birth, Montebuglio, some sixty miles north-west of Milan, and was attended by over two-hundred people.

After the ceremony, the coffee pot was interred in the family tomb, which is located in a cemetery in the lakeside town of Omegna.

When Renato took over the family business, only 70,000 of the iconic coffeepots had been manufactured in the fifteen years since Alfonso secured its patent.

But Renato dreamed big. He secured prime advertising space in a number of major Italian cities and became the face of the brand by putting a caricature version of himself (nicknamed L’omino con I baffe – the little man with the mustache) on the side of every pot.

This worked a treat and as of today, an estimated 330 million Moka pots have been sold worldwide.

So, we bid you farewell Renato – thanks for everything!