0 1 /2011 © Caffè Moak S.p.A.

01/2011 © Caffè Moak S.p.A.
the sign moak
www.caffemoak.com
Posta target Magazine – Fees paid – DCB Central/PT Magazine
Ed./aut. Nr. 50/2004 – valid from 7/04/2004 - Aut. Court. Forlì
nr.18
Of 2000 - News nr.1/2011
Responsible Director: Marco Pederzoli
Managing Editor: Stefano Della Casa
Editing: Annalisa Spadola, Massimo Giardina,
Marco Lentini, Sergio Iacono, Saro Giunta, Corrado Barone,
Gian Paolo Galloni, Dino Della Casa, Stefano Della Casa.
Graphic Coordination: Studio Degò (MO)
Art work: Chiara Ottolini and Eleonora Cascone
Publisher: Studio Della Casa S.a.S
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or object writing to: Studio dott. Della Casa S.a.s. Via Emilia Ovest, 1014 - 41123 Modena (MO) - Italy
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Pedrocchi coffee from Padua
Caffè Letterario Moak celebrates his tenth birthday
Photo competition
The Sign Moak on iPhone and iPad
Coffee interpreted by two star chefs
Industrial designer, Angelo Ruta
Cinema and coffee, story of a deep love
Cartoons and cars, in the world of imaginary motors
A coffee with Fausto Arrighi
Moak and surrounding. This is our story
Moak forms. The cup
Cappuccino and brioche an Italian story
Donatella Finocchiaro, from Catania to Cannes’ red carpet
Horeca, GDO, Vending products
Watch closely. The Moak bean
The ammazzacaffè, a great Italian tradition
Zonda and Huarya. Daughters of the Argentine breeze
01/2011
Pedrocchi Coffee
from Padua
by Dino Della Casa
Marie-Henry Beyle, also worldwide knows by his pen name
Stendhal (1783 – 1842), writer of literature masterpieces
like “The Charterhouse of Parma” and “The Red and the
Black”. After having visited the historical centre of Padua, he
wrote: “C’est à Padoue que j’ai commence à voir la vie à la
vènitienne, les femmes dans les cafés. L’excellent restaurateur
Pedrocchi, le meilleur d’Italie”, which sounds like this in
English: “It’s in Padua that I started to see the Venetian way
of life, with women sitting in cafés. The excellent restorer
Pedrocchi, the best all over Italy”. So, even the French writer,
one of the many intellectuals that stopped at least one time at
this café throughout the course of the centuries, observed the
unique atmosphere you can breathe in the place in Via VIII
Febbraio number 15, today nearing two and a half centuries.
Indeed, between the eighteenth and nineteenth century, coffee
consumption in Italy spreads over enormously and so the
tradition of coffee is born - place seen as meeting point open
to the middle class, in opposition to the private dimension of
the noble salons. Moreover, the additional presence of more
than three thousand people between students, traders and
soldiers in Padua made sure that this kind of activity could
expand more than in other town centres. Here’s why in that
context in 1772, Francesco Pedrocchi from Bergamo opens
a “coffee shop” in a strategic point of Padua, close to the
university, to the town hall, to the markets, to the theatre and
to the Noli square (today Piazza Garibaldi) from where the
stagecoaches left to reach the nearby towns.
His son Antonio, who inherited the flourishing paternal
business in 1800, instantly showed his entrepreneurial
ability and decided to invest his profits in the purchase of the
adjoining premises, so much that within about 20 years he
found himself owner of the whole block, a roughly triangular
area delimited by Via della Garzeria (today Via VIII
Febbraio) to the east, by Via della Pescheria Vecchia (today
Vicolo Pedrocchi) to the west and by the St. Job Oratory
(today Pedrocchi square) to the north.
On August 16th, 1826, Antonio Pedrocchi presents the
project for the construction of a plant at the local authorities,
including some premises used for coffee roasting, for the
coffee preparation, for the “ice preserve” and for a place
where to serve the drinks. Before this construction site,
Pedrocchi had commissioned another technician, Giuseppe
Bisacco, to carry out the demolition works of the whole
block and to build a building; but unsatisfied with the result,
he had asked Giuseppe Jappelli, European renown engineer
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and architect and prominent figure of the middle class who
frequented the café, to redesign the complex again, giving it
an elegant and unique mark. The ground floor was finished
in 1831, while the added body was created in 1839 in neoGothic style, named “Pedrocchino”, aimed at taking the
confectioner’s (pastry store).
On the occasion of the “IV Congress of Italian scientists”
in 1842, the upper floor areas, decorated in different styles
according to the historicizing taste of that time, creating
a unique path through the human civilization, were
inaugurated. The upper floor rooms were intended to be used
for meetings, conventions, feasts and shows, and public and
private associations that for different reasons could organize
events, were allowed to use them. Antonio Pedrocchi passed
away on January 22nd, 1852. Spurred on by the wish to
leave the management of his café to a trusted person, he
adopted Domenico Cappellatto, son of one of his boys, who
committed himself to give continuity to his inherited business
when the putative father died, even if he appointed managers
for the various sections of the plant.
An unavoidable decay due to the difficulties given by
World War I characterizes the café between 1915 and 1924.
Unfortunately, most of the original fittings will be dispersed
in the following years.
After World War II, a new restoration starts with the project
of architect Angelo Pisani. He redefines the space given onto
the back alley, turns the same back alley into a concreteframed glass panel gallery and makes some shops, a public
telephone area and a bronze fountain. In good part of the
eighties and nineties, Pedrocchi is closed due to difficulties
between the management owners and the town hall. Finally,
in 1994, the recovery of the premises is determined and the
architect Umberto Riva and his collaborators are in charge to
amend for the damage caused by the devastating restoration
of Pisani. After having carried out a first part of works, the
café will be handed over to the Paduan citizens on December
22nd, 1998. Today, it remains a basic stop for the city of
Padua. For more information: www.caffepedrocchi.it
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Caffè Letterario Moak
celebrates his
tenth birthday
by Annalisa Spadola
For those who don’t know it yet, Caffè Letterario is the
competition addressed to young and old writers of high
hopes Moak has been organizing and promoting for ten
years. The only rule for all participants is the topic that
obviously cannot but be coffee, besides the length of the
text.
So, intense coffee in its wider meaning: the drink, the place,
the plant, the taste, the aroma etc.
Born by the wish to create also a cultural research around
coffee, in the years Caffè Letterario increased in the number
of participants, in the quality of the stories and also in the
prestige of the characters that have been interested in this
competition; insomuch that it became the third award in
order of importance in Sicily. It’s no accident that many
participants of the past editions continued to write and many
of them started to work for famous national publishing
houses.
As said, 2011 has been the tenth appointment and given
the importance of the anniversary, a particular attention
has been reserved to this recent edition, starting from a
panel composed of all former presidents, putting together
representatives of the literary world, such as the big shots
Walter Pedullà and Raffaele Nigro. The price-giving night,
held in the Moak premises in Modica, was hosted by Iaia
Forte, player and actress of international renown, who did
the honours of the house with great elegance and expertise.
Regarding the competition in strict meaning, the tenth
edition has seen the victory of the story “Caffè Amaro”
(Coffee Without Sugar) by Monica Gentile. A sensational
Verga-like story, but at the same time not without feminine
sensibility and refined and researched linguistic elegance.
The successes and considerable acknowledgements of the
last ten years of Caffè Letterario Moak lead us, besides
priding ourselves, to a further appointment; it spurs us to
give voice to a renewed enthusiasm that will see Caffè
Letterario Moak once again next year, and even more,
a reference point for all those who, like us, foster two
passions: coffee al literature.
During the evening also the prize-giving of “Corto Moak”
took place - the film contest for short films Moak has
been organising and promoting for six years. Despite the
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youngest of Moak’s cultural initiatives, the press of this
field considers it one of the most interesting competitions
for young authors in Italy.
The first prize was won by Ivano Fachin’s “Vodka Tonic”,
a strongly metaphorical short film, where life is reduced in
a cocktail and where both the ingredients and proportions
can be mistaken if you don’t have enough experience.
The experience of living, precisely. Totally made in New
York, Vodka Tonic is a film where you can already see
Ivano Fachin’s stylistic and authorial feature that is turning
himself from a promising to a real Italian cinema star.
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Photo competition
Caffè Moak has always given particular attention to the world
of culture and art. The cultural initiatives have been particularly
aimed at enhancing and promoting new talents.
This publication gave us the opportunity to continue in this
sense, offering to lovers of the art of photography an occasion
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of visibility. Indeed, we decided to call a photo competition for
everybody, having as a sole rule the topic of coffee. LE winning
works will be used for the arrangement of the covers of the next
The Sign Moak issues. More information is available on the
website www.caffemoak.com
the sign moak
The Sign Moak
on iPhone and iPad
by Marco Pederzoli
The Sign Moak gets ready to land also on the Web. Indeed,
the editorial project launched with this issue wants to
accompany also all the pluses offered by new technologies
together with the paper. If you connect to www.caffemoak.
com, Caffè Moak’s official website, all services will be
multimedia to all intents and purposes and therefore, it
can be read and commented from all over the world. The
initiative fits in with Moak’s very well-defined policy,
which intention is to interact more and more with its own
audience and clients, in order to confront each other and
compare opinions, just like you do when you take a coffee
with friends. Moreover, the information contained in The
Sign Moak enhances the contents that you can already find
on the website, where updated news about initiatives and
corporate news are not missing, not only with reference
to products, but also to the support the company offers to
literature and culture in general for many years. In other
terms, you will be able to have access and read The Sign
Moak both from your own personal computer and from
iPad and iPhone. That way, you are always informed in
real-time about everything related to the extraordinary
world of Moak, where coffee becomes interpret of widely
appealing initiatives.
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Coffee interpreted
by two star chefs
by Gian Paolo Galloni
ENRICO BARTOLINI leaves his home region Tuscany
in 1998 and starts his learning career in London at Mark
Page, in Paris with Carlo Petrini , in Pistoia at Pier Angelo
Barontini and in Padua at Alaimo.
In 2005, he takes over the management of the restaurant
“Le Robinie” in Montescano (PV), which in short time
becomes destination of the most demanding gourmets. And
on November 24th, 2009, his thirtieth birthday, he receives
a Michelin star that consecrates him once and for all chef on
an international scale. On June 2010, he leaves Montescano
to take over the management of the restaurant Devero in
Cavenago (MB).
Research and innovation are the goals Enrico is pursuing all
along, in order to offer his guests dishes that excite following
the local tradition.
Enrico’s dish elaborated with Moak coffee is:
“Smoked scampi ravioli with Moak coffee”
The ravioli are filled with a fish cream, smoked with coffee
and steamed. The ravioli are pan-fried with fresh butter and
cognac and served with raw scampi, slightly hot fresh herbs
and a sprinkle of selected Moak coffee. The recommended
wine is the Rosé classic way Podere Forte di Castiglione
d’Orcia (GR).
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Luca Marchini, graduated in Economics and
Commerce, while waiting to organize himself and begin
his career as professional accountant, in ‘98 he decides
to work for some time at the Osteria Francescana, the
famous restaurant in Modena, to satisfy his hobby for
cooking. This experience turned out to be so overwhelming
and involving, that he abandoned the idea to become
professional accountant and embraced a career as cook
instead. After several experiences in New York’s Upper
East Side, at the Locanda Solarola in Castel Guelfo (BO)
and being chef at a famous restaurant in Bologna, he opens
his own restaurant in March 2003: L’erba del Re (The
King’s grass) in Modena. In 2009, he receives his Michelin
star. Luca offers simple, light and digestible food, but rich
of flavour and creativity, respecting the Emilian tradition.
Luca’s dish elaborated with Moak coffee is:
Spaghetti with squills, coffee cream, dill and coriander
seeds.
Cook the spaghetti and as soon as they soften, strain them
and put them in a pan with the fish broth obtained with
the squill carcass, a pinch of salt and extra virgin olive
oil. Let them cook, using just the fish broth to braise. Turn
off the flame, add the squills to the spaghetti, sauté them
energetically and finally we add the dried cube tomatoes
and the finely minced dill. We put the fresh Moak coffee
cream and the whipped spaghetti onto the dish, dusting
them with chopped coriander seeds.
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Industrial designer,
Angelo Ruta
by Massimo Giardina
This column has been created to present a character of the
world of design and graphics in every issue. In the first issue,
we decided to talk with Angelo Ruta. Besides the wish to
pay homage to a young and brilliant artist, this choice has
been also taken for an affectionate gesture for one of our
collaborators, who has been contributing for several years to
make the image of Moak more pleasant and interesting.
We reached him at his home in Milan, where he lives since he
moved to enrol to the Civic School “Art and Message” after he
finished secondary school in Modica – it was 1986 and there
were not many graphic and illustration schools yet.
In fact, just two: one in Rome and one here in Milan.
Afterwards, the illustration, graphic and comic strip courses
came also into the Academies, but they were still seen as
“strange” subjects at that time.
So, the passion for visual arts is an “old” passion?
Yes, since I was in secondary school, I liked drawing, but I had
never thought it would become my profession.
Defining you just an illustrator is restrictive; in fact, beside
the mentioned activity, you alternate the one of dramatist,
scriptwriter, director and set designer.
That’s true. After the Illustration course I studied set designing
at the Brera Academy and I got closer to the theatre, a world
I explored first as set designer and then also as dramatist and
director.
And cinema? You are also scenarist and director.
When my interest for the cinema started, I was curious to know
“how it worked”; because being in the movies is all about
teamwork, unlike all the other visual arts. And if you succeed,
it offers unexpected possibilities of expression. I started
attending a course at Milan’s “Professional training centre
for movie-television techniques”. Here, the most formative
experience was meting other students. I set up my first short
films with them.
Let’s go back to you job as illustrator, is there an author you
user as a reference point?
More than one. The history of illustration is full of visionaries
and I always have copies, books, postcards of those who came
before me on my desk. Every so often, I like having a look at
them and loose myself in them. I think about Larsson, Rackam,
or about the Americans: Rockwell, Steinberg and Spiegelman.
I also like the French illustration very much. I am particularly
attached to Topor, because I saw one of his anthologies at the
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Royal Palace as soon as I arrived in Milan. That exhibition
taught me that illustration is not at all a minor art, as you often
believe.
Is the time you spend on drawing pleasant?
Yes, very pleasant. Sometimes it’s even therapeutic.
Therapeutic? Why?
Only when I sort out the creative nag (the research of the idea)
and have approval, I can dedicate just to colours and features.
It’s very similar to a ritual: choose the sheet of paper you copy
the sketch on, dissolve the colour in this or that plate depending
on the shade, sharpen the pencils…
Which projects do you have for the next coming months?
-To begin with, the forthcoming publication of three teenage
books (one for San Paolo, one for Einaudi and one for Lion
Hudson). Then, the release of a CD with histories for children
told and sung by Pietro Pignatelli, where I acted in double
stead of author and illustrator. In the end, the rival of theatre:
“Il poeta volante” (the flying poet) – which I wrote and direct
– a play inspired in the poet Lauro De Bosis at Milan’s Litta.
And next summer I will be directing a grand opera: Donizetti’s
“L’elisir d’amore” (the elixir of love), for the regional
Orchestra of Molise.
the sign moak
Cinema and coffee,
story of a deep love
by Dino della Casa
Times change, seasons change, but there is a constant on
the wide screen: cinema feeds on coffee. The proof of such
a thesis happens if you explore the most various genres
and the most different times, staring with the unforgettable
black and white. The protagonists of the 1949 Western
film “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” directed by John Ford
for example, did understand it correctly. The scene where
the main characters wake up in the morning and sip a tasty
coffee is still famous. And this is not taken for granted at
all: the film scenes are set in 1876, when the US cavalry
has to face an impressive offensive of the Indians after
the defeat suffered by General Custer at Little Bighorn.
Continuing with the genre of Western films, coffee is again
protagonist in “Stagecoach”, another masterpiece of John
Ford, starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine
and John Carradine. Besides, this film marks the director’s
comeback to the Western genre after 13 years. Scripted
by Dudley Nichols, the film is based on a story of Ernest
Haycox, Stage to Lordsburg, in turn inspired from Boule de
Suif of Guy de Maupassant. In this case, an entire diligence
is refreshed with a cup of coffee at the post office. In “Rio
Bravo”, a 1959 Western film directed by Howard Hawks,
starring John Wayne, Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson,
a saloon, one of the most typical places of the West, is
the setting for the coffee the main characters are sipping.
To finish the connection between coffee and Western
genre, here the anti-Western par excellence: “Dances with
Wolves”, the 1990 masterpiece directed by and starring
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Kevin Costner. The great value that has always been
assigned to coffee is here particularly emphasized, because
it is exchange merchandise for a barter.
Moving over to the Italian neorealism, could Totò, the
“prince of laughter” get out of letting appear the cup in
several films? Into the bargain, he even was from Naples,
region of great coffee drinking tradition. Here’s why in
1951 film “Totò terzo uomo” (Totò third man) directed
by Mario Mattoli, Antonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas
Comneno De Curtis di Bisanzio Gagliardi, precisely known
as Totò, drinks in a coffee cup. Similar scenes are repeated
in 1954 film “Miseria e Nobiltà” (Poverty and Nobelty),
also directed by Mario Mattòli, based on the namesake play
(1888) of Eduardo Scarpetta and in the 1956 comedy “ La
banda degli onesti” (The Band of Honest Men) directed by
Camillo Mastrocinque, where the price of laughter plays
together with Peppino de Filippo.
And if Totò brought somehow coffee into the movies,
the Italian style comedy turned it into a moment in the
description of everyday life that can’t be missed. The
honour of a place in the title of a successful film is given
for example in the 1970 film “Venga a prendere il caffè da
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noi” (Come Have Coffee With Us) directed by Alberto
Lattuada, with an unforgettable Ugo Tognazzi engaged in
seducing and deceiving three wealthy sisters. Ten years
later, the place of honour in the title does not change:
indeed, in Nanni Loy’s film “Café Express” from 1980,
Michele Abbagnano (Nino Manfredi) is a poor devil who
acts as an illicit coffee street vendor on the night train
route that goes from Vallo della Lucania to Naples, always
travelling without any ticket, in order to survive and to
maintain his fourteen-year old son at boarding school. The
film tells about the ups and downs and the lies he has to
invent to make ends meet, while hunt down by the railway
police and by a group of small-time thieves who would
like him to be forced partner in crime to commit their
pickpocketings.
Last but not least, leaving again the national boundaries
and peek into the wide international cinematography,
coffee is the main character in other big shot films, such
as “Casablanca” (1942, directed by Michael Curtiz),
“Notorious” (1946, by Alfred Hitchcock) and the
unforgettable “Some Like it Hot” (1959) with the beautiful
Marilyn Monroe directed by Billy Wilder.
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Cartoons and cars,
in the world
of imaginary motors
by Marco Pederzoli
Nobody has ever built them, and yet their motors have
always worked. Nobody has ever seen them, and yet they are
perfectly remembered. Nobody has ever driven them, and yet
there are even some plates left.
The riddle is simple, also because there are many solutions:
we are talking about the cars immortalized by the cartoons
and comic strips; those cars that excited generations of
teenagers; that accompanied and characterized the life
of many heroes with their feats and mishaps. Even they
never existed, but more than ever present in the collective
imaginary.
Starting right from the beginning, from what has been
the first car ever, how can we not think about the “fourlegged” of the Flintstones , the nice prehistoric characters
that represent William Hanna’s and Joseph Barbera’s
comics masterpiece? Born in the Sixties, the adventures
of “ancestors” Mr Fred and Mrs Wilma Flintstone and Mr
Barney and Mrs Betty Bubble intend to imitate the customs
and traditions of the American middle-class of that time,
where obviously also the car played an important role. All
is set in prehistory; however, adapting technology to our
days was necessary, so that the funny effect in this case
is the human propulsion the cars of those nice characters
need. Turning back to proper automotive times, what would
Donald Duck be without his 313? The funny effect of this
unmistakable bright red and blue utility car is the loads it
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is often compelled to carry: “homologated” for just two
people, his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie often get into
the tight space that should function as boot. And if you
add the fact that at other times it is excessively overloaded
for trips or holidays and that sometimes it is asked to do
impossible service, it is understandable that the 313 leaves
the unlucky Uncle Donald nearly always stranded, giving
rise to funny and paradoxical situations for the readers’
eyes.
Staying within Disney, there is another car that left its mark
in this collection of imaginary “mirabilia”: Mickey Mouse’s
113. To tell the truth, this is not the only car owned and
driven by the skilful detective of Mousetown, but surely the
most famous. Besides, this plate had been used many times
by one of the most famous cartoonists of the skilful mouse’s
adventures: the Italian Romano Scarpa (1927-2005).
Depending on the historical periods, Mickey Mouse has
used several cars and why not, you can read the automotive
evolution through these changes. Just think about the 1935
four wheel having an “M” (initial of Mickey Mouse) on
the driver’s door. However, already in the late Thirties, in
different American and non-American comic stripes, we
find Mickey Mouse with other cars outfitted with not overly
variable coloured bodyworks: either red or totally blue, or
red and blue. In general, it is nearly always utility cars,
seldom custom-built, helping Mickey Mouse in car chasing
outlaws, shadowing and why not, used as needed corollary
for gentlemanly nights out with his everlasting girlfriend
Minnie.
Then, there are situations where the cars are really
required and they need to be efficient, fast, in one word
extraordinary. Got it? Batmobile, what else. Or better, the
car of superhero Batman. Like Mickey’s much more humble
car, even this one underwent deep evolutions over the
years, adapting to technologies and times. Just think about
the fact that when Batman appeared on the newsstand in
1939, the Batmobile was not called like that. It simply was
an impressive and opulent car for those days, a modified
“sedan car” but without any specific identity yet. The name,
and consequently the eternal notoriety, comes a couple of
years later, on February 1941, within the 48th issue of the
set. Afterwards, a detail will be added, which would have
become essential for the instantaneous identification: the
bodywork’s colour – gloss black. As for the used models,
they are indeed a mirror of the times. Already in the Fifties,
for example, the war time bat-nosed car seemed old-
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fashioned; therefore, a new one had been drawn, after the
old one had been crashed down from a bridge during a car
chase. Its forms then became more solid and less slender.
Oddly enough, the mid-Sixties go back to a look closer to
the war time. After several ups and downs, the fashion of
the Batmobile has been interpreted in many different ways
from the Nineties to date, making it as good as impossible
to recognize just one guideline. Staying within legendary
sports cars that shaped the automotive history, even if they
never existed, you cannot but mention the saga of Michel
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Vaillant, the comic hero created by the French cartoonist
Jean Graton. The first deeds of the popular pilot appeared in
1957, on Le Journal de Tintin.
Afterwards, about 70 registers were published. Driving a
great car, Vaillant is an ace that pursuits the highest and
purest principles of sports with his activity.
Although his events are just a figment of the imagination,
this cartoon has helped to create a myth in the flesh: Alain
Prost, who admitted in an interview that he became keen
on the world of racings by reading also Michel Vaillant.
the sign moak
In Italy, between the Sixties and the Nineties, some “noir”
comic strips, where the cars had a role of worthy co-stars,
met with success. Diabolik’s Jaguar e-Type is without
doubt unforgettable; inseparable companion of this hero
–antihero born in 1962 by an idea of Angela Giussani
from Milan (afterwards joined by her sister Luciana), who
wanted to find a pastime for the many commuters of the
station north of Milan (Angela lived close by). That way, an
extremely clever character was born. Genius of crime and
always hunt down by the police. Two things he could never
renounce: his beautiful girlfriend Eva Kant and of course his
fast and reliable car. Speaking of Eva Kant, times change
and so do the cars. Few months after her release from the
head office, Diabolik’s beautiful girlfriend already started to
drive a Land Rover Evoque, showing not only skilfulness,
but also an inborn sense of “glamour”.
More humble, but anyway often decisive in important
moments, is another icon of Italian cartoons of the eighties:
the convertible beetle of Dylan Dog, born like his owner in
1986 by Tiziano Scalvi. White-coloured, with plate number
DYD 666, in the 200th issue of the set, it is explained why
the inquirer of nightmare took possession of his noisy
vehicle.
It happened after clearing up his first case (a bewitched
doormat that nagged the some home owners). Instead of a
fee, Dylan is offered this rather shabby car, which was just
bothering the former owners. In some stories it happens to
be destroyed due to several car chases, but it turns totally
intact in the following story. Miracles of comic strips…
COLPO ALLA
RANGE ROVER
A bit older than Dylan Dog and worldwide known is
Martin Jacques Mystère, created by Alfredo Castelli (text)
and Giancarlo Alessandrini (drawings) on April 1982.
Nicknamed “Detective of the impossible”, he is specialized
in investigations of unsolved mysteries. He usually drives
a Ferrari Mondial, launched on the market just a few years
before the first issue came out. Obviously, hits plate is
unique and unmistakable: M.MYST. This is a guarantee that
makes his car indestructible, or at least of the same material
the Phoenix is made of: come back to life from the own
ashes.
Once again, if you would need it, we received a
confirmation thanks to this quick excursus into the world of
comics: dream and fact, imagination and concreteness; they
are not contraries, but different sides of the same coin. With
some philosophy we would say that nature imitates art and
art imitates nature. Even in the motor world.
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A coffee with Fausto Arrighi
by Gian Paolo Galloni
The stars are up in the sky, not in a cup, but in Italy an excellent
coffee can never miss at the end of a meal. We met Fausto Arrighi,
director of the Michelin Guide Italy, who gave us the interesting
point of view of an authorized personnel of coffee. Arrighi is
certainly one of the most dreaded, but also most esteemed wine and
food critic all over Italy. From the conversation we had with the
director, you can understand how important coffee in the restaurant
industry is.
We invite our restaurateur friends and bar holders to carefully read
this interview: it contains very interesting observations and very
much good sense.
What importance does coffee have in the Italian restaurant
industry?
I would say a lot. Just think about the fact that you can find a wide
range of extraordinary, I would say unique coffee selection in many
restaurants.
Has the introduction of pads improved the coffee served in the big
restaurant industry?
Maybe it did not improved coffee itself, but certainly the hygiene
standard, and for many restaurateurs the handiness.
What does one appreciate most of a coffee?
To taste a perfect coffee, many details make the difference and you
can’t be regardless of them. The right amount, the creaminess, no
bitter aftertaste, very important for those who drink it unsweetened,
and not least, it has to be served in a cup that is warm just to
the right point. Prerequisite for a perfect coffee is that a real
professional makes it!
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How do you prepare coffee at home?
With the classic mocha pot. It’s a small ritual I will never give up.
Is coffee drunk sweetened or unsweetened?
Coffee is pleasure, I drink it rigorously without sugar, but I don’t
sentence those who sweeten it, de gustibus…
What do you think about lacing?
They are old bar customs, typical of some Italian areas, above all in
the North.
Is it true that the best coffee is drunk in the South?
Coffee is good everywhere. A good barman knows that coffee feels
humidity very much and he has to act accordingly. I use to go a
place where the coffee blend is prepared after having measured the
humidity; they do this to always offer the best coffee to customers.
In the South, coffee is a ritual. Coffee is always strong; usually it is
drunk up and always served together with the classic cup of fresh
water.
Do you have an anecdote to tell?
I drank my first coffee at a bar with my grandfather, who winked at
me and asked if I wanted it lace. I didn’t know what it meant, but I
said yes! With the first sip, a hot flash wrapped me and I turned as
red as a tomato. Grandfather gave a loud laugh (I was just 10 years
old).
And in conclusion, is it true that in Italy you drink the best coffee
of the world?
Thinking about how we see the espresso in a small cup,
undoubtedly. I have drunk horrible espressos all over the world. The
concept of coffee is understood only by us, whilst if you want to
drink filter coffee, you can find it everywhere.
the sign moak
Moak and surroundings.
This is our story
by M. G.
«The honesty of our workers is our highest active. »
Adriano Olivetti
What you are going to read now is not only an
entrepreneurial story, as far as fascinating, which purpose
is the company success. What you are going to read now is
above all the story of an adventure that has been going on
for 40 years, a continual march towards a sole aim: quality.
All begins with 40 square metres and a small 15 kg roasting
machine. It is 1967 and Giovanni Spadola just came back to
his hometown Modica, after a working experience at FIAT in
Turin. Since he was a child, Giovanni has a passion: coffee.
The most natural thing for an enterprising young man full of
will like him is to convert this passion into a job. He has a
room at his disposal, just next to his family house; he buys
a Petroncini and some sack of green coffee. Everything is
ready to start, just one thing is missing: the name. To pay
homage to his town and as reference to the Arab culture
that “invented” coffee, the choice falls on Moak. As far as
this seems outlandish, it is in fact nothing but the way the
Saracen called the County town: Mohac.
Two people, Giovanni Spadola and a collaborator, work in
the small coffee roasting plant and they manage to produce
3.500 kg of roasted coffee in the first year of operation. The
work is hard, but rewarding, the orders increase, and so does
the need for workforce and appropriate space. It is 1971 and
Caffè Moak moves to a new base, still in Modica Alta, close
to the old one. The new plant measures 100 sq m and in short
time they buy a 30 kg Petroncini for production reasons and
then a model able to roast up to 120 kg of green coffee. Few
years later, a new stage starts for the company; indeed, it is
1978 when Giovanni Spadola decides to directly import the
coffee he makes his blends with. His choice did not spring
from reasons of economical convenience, but rather from
the opportunity that this choice offers to directly intercept
the best raw material in origin. This choice agrees with
him, orders continue to increase, Moak coffee is quickly
spreading over in Sicily and quality is recognized every day.
The constant growth gives again rise to the need of a new
base. The new structure is born in the late Seventies in Via
Resistenza Partigiana. Offices, warehouse and production
take up an area of 500 sq. The staff now consists of 10
people. A 240 kg Petroncini roasting machine is being
introduced in the production department. We are in the
“fabulous” Eighties, the Italian economy runs, well-being
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is more and more widespread, and Italy finds out that it is
a modern and successful country. Moak strengthened its
position in Sicily; it is massively active in every province,
it does a “coffee you like”, as an advertising campaign
says. Would they like it also beyond the Straits? You can’t
but try. Even this time intuition is right. In short time,
Moak manages to get into this new market with a careful
and sound commercial operation, becoming soon one of
the most active brands of the branch. Calabria is nothing
but a solid foundation that leads to the southern Italy
market, a traditionally very careful area regarding coffee
quality. And a quality coffee cannot but be appreciated. So,
a commercial net featuring agents and distributors covers
all southern Italy, bringing an increase of orders that need
a different and bigger throughput, in order to be dealt with.
In 1990, the production line is completely renewed and the
company’s complex is extended from 500 to 2500 sq m.
1994 is a crucial year for Moak. Alessandro Spadola,
Giovanni’s first-born, joins the company; this is the sign of
continuity and of an expansion project that wants to export
the Moak quality beyond national borders, into a different
time of the company we will have the pleasure to tell about
in the next The Sign Moak issue.
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Moak forms.
The cup
by Marco Lentini and Sergio Iacono
It is several years that Caffè Moak has been endowed with
a department totally dedicated to the management and
development of the company image and the coordinate
design: for[me] Moak. A laboratory where to create and test
alternative communication instruments, which are always
perfectly ascribable to the Moak identity. The quality work
done by for[me] Moak has also been recognized by the AIAP
(Italian Design Association for Visual Communication),
wanting Moak – first private company the body linked to - as
partner in 2011.
One of the most successful projects carried out by for[me]
Moak is surely the cup Moak is distributing to its bars for
about two years. The cup and saucers designed by for[me]
Moak have been planned to comply at best a working
instrument and communication means. Made of hard
Feldspatica porcelain, form and dimension drawings have
been studied so to allow a safe and easy stackability. The egglike bottom eases the preservation of coffee cream, while the
ceramic thickness has been studied to hold the necessary heat,
in order to bring out the espresso aroma.
The company logo is reproduced in intrusion within the
porcelain on one side of the cup, colourless and subsequently
glazed together with the cup. This solution reduces the visual
impact, but introduces the tactile one, involving an often
overlooked sensory. Though, the most effective element is the
handle. Of a square form with round holding hole, the handle
is made, besides white, also with other two colours referring
respectively to the products the cups are dedicated to.
Therefore, there is the white handle for traditional products;
the green handle for the decaffeinated; the platinum handle
for the Aromatik products.
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Cappuccino and brioche
an Italian story
by Saro Giunta
Vienna 1683. Georg Michaelowitz, a young man of Polish
origins, opens up the probably first coffee shop. He was
given coffee in payment for a service rendered to the
Austrian army engaged to cope with the Turkish; service that
later turned decisive for the success of the war in advantage
of the Austrians. One day, a religious Italian, Friar Marco
D’Aviano, came into Georg’s shop and the young man
offered him a cup of that infusion that was still unknown to
the most. The friar thought that the taste was too sour and he
made the man add some milk to milden the taste. The result
was so incredible that it became the most fashionable drink
of Vienna in short time. To honour who invented, even if
unconsciously, that drink, they called it Cappuccino, just like
the religious order Marco D’Aviano belonged to.
The cornetto, which very often accompanies the cappuccino,
is of the same time and provenance. As the story goes, to
celebrate the close shave from the Turkish troop’s siege, a
Viennese confectioner gave sweet puff pastry the form of
a moon standing out against the Ottoman flags. Thanks to
this baking’s extraordinary deliciousness and maybe also
to exorcize the fear the Turkish continued to do, even if
beaten, the Viennese ate huge quantities of it, striking the
confectioners rich. Both cappuccino and cornetto became
popular in northern Italy and from here all over Italy during
the Austro-Hungarian domination. And it is here in Italy they
both reached their fame.
Today, the match cappuccino and cornetto is a symbol of
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quality cappuccinos. The training includes both the choice of
materials to be used and the techniques to be applied for the
success of what for many people is the only way to start the
day.
More information about the training schedule can be found
on the website www.caffemoak.com under the heading
for[me] training.
Italian food; the mastery of our barmen and confectioners
has been able to lend these two protagonists of breakfast a
quality level turning it to a reference point for the rest of the
world.
Mlab, on behalf of Caffè Moak, has been organizing some
specialization courses foe barmen for some years, where
the basic principles are provided to manage to serve high
26
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Donatella Finocchiaro,
from Catania to
Cannes’ red carpet
by Marco Pederzoli
Love cannot be commanded. You could start a biography of
Donatella Fionocchiaro, actress of Catania already invested
with many awards for her performances, that way. The path
of reason, using a metaphor of Pascal, wanted her dressed
up with a robe practicing law. She did it to the best of her
abilities: in fact, she graduated in 1996, after attending Law
faculty at the University of Catania. And it seemed as if the
legal career would be natural. However, remaining with the
philosopher Pascal, since there are reasons of the heart the
mind does not know, Donatella continues to nourish a dream
with belief, which in the end will become today’s wonderful
reality: acting. On the same month of her graduation
thesis, she takes part in the auditions of the Teatro Stabile
in Catania, where she will be accepted shortly after. The
thirty-one old, who was split between the apprenticeship as
lawyer and screen tests, goes to a casting for the new film
of Roberta Torre and become the protagonist of “Angela”.
The film went round the world with screenings in many
international festivals, after being successfully presented
at the Cannes Festival. That girl will become Donatella
Finocchiaro for everybody. And the footlights just went on:
indeed, her working career continues with excellent directors,
from Giuseppe Tornatore to Roberto Andò, from Marco
Bellocchio to Mimmo Calopresti, from Edoardo Winspeare to
Emanuele Crialese, who wanted her to be protagonist in his
film “Terraferma” (Mainland) that came out this year. With
regards to this latter production, she writes a nice review: “On
a Mediterranean island, the twenty-year old fatherless Filippo
lives with his mother Giulietta and his grandfather Ernesto,
an old and indomitable fisherman who practices the sea law.
While fishing, Filippo and Ernesto save a pregnant woman
and her little child from drowning. In defiance of bureaucracy
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and finance, they decide to take care of them, at least until
they will have the strength to pay for their own keep. Split
between the management of spoilt holidaymakers and the
poverty of a woman escaping from war, Filippo searches his
own centre and a finally solid ground.
Mainland is the third work Emanuele Crialese dedicates to
the Sicilian Sea in a persisting aesthetic research started with
“Respiro” (Breath) nine years before. Like Conrad, Crialese
uses “a restless and at the same time changeable element” to
tell men; in this case, a blue vision clung to the human and
desperate view of displaced persons. Above, beneath and
around the isle not identified on purpose, the director sees the
sea like place of endless inner sensations.
At the centre of his sailing, there is once again a family unit
in tension towards elsewhere and beyond that sea, which
invades the whole framing area, filling every space with
water. Within its absolute pure expanse and along its regular
pace cumbersome ferries move along that spit out tourists
and echoes of the mainland; the one Donatella Fionocchiaro’s
Giulietta yearns for herself and her son. Because that
ungrateful sea killed her husband and has been unwilling to
give fishes and miracles for too much time. One day, a black
and lay Madonna comes from the same sea. Her country of
origin makes her take a flight and the hosting country refuses
her reception.
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Timnit T’s Sara is the character standing literally “in the
middle”. Corresponding with the same drama the social
precariousness of the native family, compelled to live on an
island and in a garage to give place to holidaymakers Beppe
Fiorello’s designer dressed (and fake) Nino is devoted to,
besides ethics and civic confinement. But if mainland Italy,
exemplifies by three irritable students, decides to take the last
ferryboat for a world full of false tolerance with no banks to
lap against and land to, the archaic Italy of the fishermen and
the burning sun immediately (re)acts with promptness to the
cold rages of tragedy…
In the rigours of form and execution, Crialese translated
the wounds of immigration and migratory politics in film
terms…”.
If you need more credentials to prove Donatella’s skill,
the successes of her filmography talk for her. Just to name
some title of great success, you can mention Il fantasma di
Corleone (The Ghost of Corleone) by Marco Amenta (2004),
Se devo essere sincero (To Be honest) by Davide Ferrario
(2004), Il regista di matrimoni ( The Wedding Director)
by Marco Bellocchio (2006), L’abbuffata (The binge) by
Mimmo Calopresti (2007), Baarìa by Giuseppe Tornatore
(2009), Manuale D’amore 3 (Love Manual 3) by Giovanni
Veronesi (2011) and of course the brand new Terraferma
(Mainland).
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Horeca, GDO,
Vending products
The experience and passion Moak uses in the creation of its
coffee is summarized in the two lines of the Horeca channel:
high quality channels addressed to the most authentic
espresso market.
Horeca deluxe
The five Horeca Deluxe blends are created with the best
Arabica and Robusta coffees. The high percentage of Arabica
gives coffee a splendid flavour together with a right acidity,
when in cup.
The six Horeca Superior blends include some of the best
Arabica and Robusta qualities. Moak created them for those
who love solid and strong coffee.
G.D.O.
For those who do not want to renounce to high quality coffee,
but do not want to go to a café, Moak made up some products
dedicated to the classical mocha. The fine coffee qualities in
the blends of this line are the most appropriate to be drunk
with the family. Roasted and blended with the usual care
Moak dedicates to his customers, G.D.O. presents a range of
blends that are able to satisfy any need.
Vending
Moak Coffee capsules are the solution dedicated to caterers
who would like to offer their customers aroma, flavour and
full-bodied taste of the original Italian Espresso, without
having to do important investments.
Thanks to Moak coffee capsules, caterers can always offer a
fresh product which is also easy to prepare. It takes just 15
seconds and few steps to offer a perfect espresso.
Moak offers caterers a two groups Spinel espresso machine
and four different blends that satisfy espresso coffee lovers.
Moreover, Moak also provides excellent and secure assistance
and constant maintenance.
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Watch closely.
The Moak bean
by Corrado Barone
Exams never end, as the saying goes. Even a coffee bean
has to pass very strict exams, before being part of one of our
blends. All begins far away from here, in those countries
where some berries grow on deep green plants with small
leaves. First, the berries are green, but their colour turns
soon in to red and reached a cherry-like colour, which shows
their full ripeness. Picked by the expert hand of peasants,
through processes that can be different depending on the
place of origin, the seeds are extracted. These are the green
coffee beans. After being divided into batches, they undergo a
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short seasoning. From this moment on, several checks testing
quality and value start for the bean.
You need to know that every plantation, independently of the
coffee quality it is cultivated for, produces a unique coffee
bean in terms of taste and aromatic structure. This happens
because the land the plantations grow on are fed by the
neighbouring growing fruits; the essences and tastes of these
fruits are absorbed by the plants, which transfer them to the
beans. This makes sure that the choice of beans has to be
taken according to the final taste you would like to create.
Once you’ve chosen the coffee quality you want to buy, a
sample of the processed batch will be sent to our laboratory.
the sign moak
Here, it will be checked for the first time and if the rigid
quality standards dictated by the company are fulfilled, you
proceed with the purchase.
Then, coffee starts a long trip that can last up to a month
across the seas in jute sacks in order for them to transpire.
And just to make sure it would not be affected by damages
caused by weather conditions or bad preservation after
such a long trip, as soon as it arrives, it undergoes a further
check that has to confirm the quality standards registered
in the sample. If the bean passes the test also this time, our
technicians manage to stock it within the bins in line for the
roasting process – but we will talk about this elaborate and
fascinating process in the next issue.
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The ammazzacaffè,
a great Italian tradition
by Dino della Casa
In the aristocratic homes, it was a habit to go to a special
room after diner, to smoke alone or more often in good
company. Besides the cigar, the servants also used to bring
one or more liqueurs to this room, which accompanied
pleasant breaks while smoking and sweetened the
mouth from the taste of coffee. Therefore, the so-called
“ammazzacaffè” were born. During the years, they came
out of the upper middle class villas to become a custom that
is still very fashionable, especially after a lavish lunch or
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dinner. Therefore, obviously a real “ammazzacaffè” market
is born, even with declinations that are different from each
other, to satisfy every taste. The more traditionalists lean
undoubtedly towards the bitters family a lot of known
varieties belong to. As everyone knows, we talk about a
flavoured liqueur, often enriched and embellished with a
vegetable ingredient that characterizes its smell and some
properties (it’s not rare to find healing herb infusions).
Countless are those that can be mentioned: from Amaro
Giuliani to Jägermeister, from Amaro Averna to Amaretto di
Saronno, from Petrus to Cynar, from Kambusa Bonomelli
to Fernet Branca up to Amaro Ramazzotti. Not to mention
the always very appreciated handmade processings, where
religious involvements are not missing (who has never
heard of bitters produced by friar convents?) or old recipes
passed down from generation to generation. An alternative
to bitters is the Sambuca, star anise-flavoured liqueur that
is subsequently flavoured with different herbs. The original
recipe of this mix comes from the old Carthusian cookbooks.
Sambuca’s base is the essential oils extracted from the
steamed distillation of the star anise (and/or green anise) and
fennel. These ingredients give the liqueur a strong scent of
anise through distillation. It also contains white elderberry
flower extracts, where the name comes from, as well as wild
fennel, thyme, peppermint, gentian, etc. in some mixes. The
extracted oils are then soaked and infused in pure alcohol;
all added by a concentrated solution of sugar and other
natural flavourings. An alternative to bitters and Sambuca is
the brandy, which production technique was already known
by the Babylonians and Egyptians, but was then abandoned
by the Greeks and Romans before rising again around
the X century, thanks to the Medical school of Salerno,
which imported techniques and knowledge from the Arabs.
Renowned distillates, such as Whisky, Cognac or Armagnac
belong to this family. They, in turn, need to be aged in
wooden barrels to follow a controlled production. The
grappa’s, on the other hand, this just depends on the choice
of the production company. Settling the mix in wooden
barrels make sure the distillates enhance in flavours, highly
appreciated by connoisseurs.
Moreover, other liqueurs commonly used as “ammazzacaffè”
and often homemade, such as limoncello (or limoncino
in the northern regions of Italy), mirto (myrtle liqueur),
nocino (walnut liqueur) and many other deserve a particular
mention. Not herbs, but fruits of trees or shrubs are here
the protagonists. Adequately prepared and infused in an
alcoholic solution, even those are part of the Italian variety
and tradition for an after coffee drink.
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Zonda and Huarya.
Daughters of the
Argentine breeze
by Gian Paolo Galloni
Zonda C12, the first Pagani car built by the workshop of
San Cesario sul Panaro, was presented at the Geneva motor
show in 1999. Zonda C12 has been planned, designed and
developed by the workshop with passion and objectiveness,
in order to express art and technology of the carbon and to
emphasize the nature of the used materials. All this in respect
of a concept of simple, light, aerodynamically downforced car
in every condition, and with the promise to offer particular
driving sensations at all speeds. A promise that has been
fulfilled and provided by the very trim suspensions from
the elastocinematik point of view, the good distribution
of weights and the very low barycentre. Under the coat
inspired by Mercedes C group Silver Arrows, the essence
of an unmistakable wind lives, where art and science match
to compose a unique, fascinating and dizzying symphony.
Like the passion of those who fall in love, the melodic
performance is born from the motor, increasing and daring
more and more, till it explodes in a blue flare-up of four pipe
exhausts. Other eight versions came after the Zonda C12;
the last one in chronological order was the Zonda Tricolore
in 2010 Pagani built in occasion of the celebration of the
50th anniversary of the Tricolour arrows, as a tribute to the
country’s aerobatic team.
Huarya, joining Zonda, appeared this year on the market
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and already aroused huge interest and admiration both in
the proper press and lovers of supercars. The study for this
new car started in 2003, presentation year of the Zonda S
Roadster. As you will remember, the early 2000 have been
important for the supercar world. The care of the big car
manufacturers contributed to the birth of extraordinary cars,
such as Bugatti Veyron, Porsche GT, Ferrari Enzo, Mercedes
McLaren SLR. This situation brought Horacio Pagani and
his staff to different considerations regarding the future of
Zonda and what could be a new Pagani. Since the original
Zonda project dated back to the early Nineties, they decided
to imagine a car that would be totally renewed in forms,
dynamics, dimensions and technology. Huarya, even if having
Zonda’s same family feeling, is completely new. The idea that
motivated our research was to offer the sensation of a plane
that is taking off. Huarya is the first car in the world with
variable aerodynamics, thanks to the active front suspensions
and four flaps, 2 at the front and 2 at the back, allowing an
optimal counterbalance with a cx (penetration coefficient)
and a variable cz (load towards the bottom) and a smaller
frontal area. This allows having best road holding conditions
in any tight spot. All this without losing the essence of their
thought, or better follow Leonardo da Vinci’s philosophy of
the Renaissance, who sees art and science walking together.
The key of Renaissance has been the manual intellectuality,
according to Horacio Pagani.
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