Starting from the early years of the 1900s, coffee becomes “espresso”, meaning prepared at the moment, an innovation that improves its quality. The exotic beverage becomes the protagonist of various advertisement campaigns that aim to make it popular, and word of the new beverage reaches Florence. In the Renaissance’s birthplace, the young Giuseppe Bambi owns a small machining workshop; Mr. Ascanio Galletti, an entrepreneur, commissions him the production of a 2-group, vertical boiler espresso machine, the Fiorenza.

Even though Mr. Galletti renounces to the commercialization of these machines, Giuseppe Bambi decides to form a partnership with his brother Bruno to produce their own model. Together, they establish Officine Fratelli Bambi in 1927.

La Marzocco is born, named after the lion symbol of Florence, that can be found on top of the new machine.