our heritage
coffee excellence is at the heart of everything that we do
For more than 90 years, we have been supplying premium espresso machines to the most coffee-passionate cafes and restaurants around the world. Now, we are sharing that expertise with home and workplace coffee drinkers.
our story began on the cobbled laneways of Florence, Italy, in 1927—a city where an espresso marks the start of each day.
The advent of the first coffee boom saw the streets flooded with the demand for machinery that could pour quickly and effortlessly, without compromising quality.
Our founding team and brothers Giuseppe and Bruno Bambi were commissioned to design a coffee machine that could withstand the pressures of Italy’s busy cafés. After producing a few models called “Fiorenza” for a client, they began designing and building coffee machines independently.
The Officina Fratelli Bambi was founded in 1927. In addition to designing the machines, they produced each part, and assembled and sold the machines during a period when any sale was a triumph. Giuseppe Bambi then adopted the symbol of the “Marzocco”, a seated lion with the crest of the Florentine Lily, synonymous with victory and triumph, and named the company La Marzocco.
the la marzocco name quickly became shorthand for high-quality coffee that boasted depth and flavour.
Our engineers continued to innovate by turning the coffee machine’s boiler on its side and later, by introducing two separate boilers—one for steaming milk, and one for producing ideal brew temperature water for espresso —into our GS machine.
Our commercial machines gained acclaim as the workhorse of the specialty coffee industry.
In 1990, Piero Bambi, son of Giuseppe, designed the Linea Classic—a simple, resilient machine that was embraced by the USA during the second wave of coffee, when coffee drinkers desired foamed milk drinks.
bringing coffee into people’s homes sparked the next wave of innovation.
Wanting to give people the opportunity to enjoy the highest grade of coffee at home and at work, we set out on a journey to develop a range of machines that matches the quality of our commercial offering.
Our first home machine, the technically advanced GS3 was launched in 2008. Housing nearly a century of espresso innovation in a small counter top machine, the GS3 brought commercial grade coffee into the homes of coffee lovers who wanted reliable espresso and café quality milk steaming capability.
The machine was adopted not only by home coffee drinkers, but also by smaller businesses and venues that wanted a powerful but petite solution to providing coffee for clientele.
born from a classic, the launch of the Linea Mini made manual coffee machinery accessible.
Our iconic Linea Mini was released in 2015. Inspired by the Linea Classic, which can be found in many of today’s most notable cafes, this beautiful machine won the hearts of home coffee drinkers who sought a manual coffee machine.
Simple, stylish and resilient, the Linea Mini is now manufactured in six colours with options for customisation and personalisation, letting home baristas around the world choose the perfect machine for their craft.
our journey continues to bring commercial grade coffee into the lives of those who drink it.
From transporting our first custom made machine to its owner to bringing uncompromised coffee experiences to drinkers around the world, we continue to hand-assemble each of machines in our home town of Florence before delivering them to coffee-passionate homes and workplaces the world over.
