Simonelli Group and Ditta Artigianale partner to offer educational resources for the Italian coffee community.
BY KATRINA YENTCH
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos by Giulio Garosi for the Simonelli Group
Italy’s specialty-coffee scene continues to bloom: The Simonelli Group, owner of well-regarded espresso machine and grinder manufacturers Nuova Simonelli and Victoria Arduino, has recently partnered with Tuscany-based roaster Ditta Artigianale to open the coffee school La Scuola del Caffè in the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, Florence.
The opening of La Scuola del Caffè comes during a time of growing demand for specialty coffee in Italy, and Simonelli Group is committed to being a part of this growth. Recently, the company partnered with the Coffee Science Foundation to assist with the group’s work on cold brew research. This next step demonstrates Simonelli Group’s own desires to continue contributing to coffee innovation.
“A successful company needs to think about the environment, the society, and the people,” says Simonelli’s CEO Fabio Ceccarani. “The cooperation with the Coffee School is perfectly in line with our company mission and with our daily commitment towards technological, environmental, and cultural sustainable growth.”
The coffee school will provide training courses on a variety of subjects that incorporate coffee, technology, and research. La Scuola Del Caffè is part of Simonelli Group’s international initiatives, as the school becomes part of several coffee quality-related projects in cities throughout the world such as London, Barcelona, and Shanghai—particularly the Victoria Arduino Experience Labs.
The team at Simonelli Group is particularly excited to launch this project in Florence, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance—as well as the site of a uniquely placed Victoria Arduino machine, which was installed at the Fiorentina stadium in the 1930s.
“The famous scholars of the Italian Renaissance, for example, Leonardo (Da Vinci), could combine science with individual ability,” Fabio explains in a press release. “The story repeats itself today amidst the coffee society; a solid base of technical know-how and personal expertise are the key to expand coffee culture.”
The course catalog for La Scuola del Caffè will be released this June 2020, and classes will begin in January 2021.
