MARCFI "La Graziella"

The MARCFI "La Graziella" may not be widely known among casual leverheads, but it's a minor legend in these parts.  Because the only place in the US you could buy them was located a few blocks away in North Beach!  The famous Thomas Cara, Ltd. espresso machine store sold many of these in the 70s/80s to local patrons, and the odd adventurous tourist.  So while they pop up around the greater Bay Area from time to time, you'll seldom see them off the West Coast.  Unless you're in Spain.

The story goes there was a Spanish subsidiary of La Pavoni in the 1960s, when Pavoni decided to end production there.  The Spanish conglomerate making them told Pavoni, "No lo creo!"  And the "legal system" of Generalissimo Franco proved to be unsympathetic to the Italian's pleas.  So MARCFI went on making their "own" espresso machines using the Pavoni group for several more years, with Pavoni unable to stop them.

But Pavoni did have some clout with their sellers in America.  And one of the largest was none other than Thomas Cara!  After threats from the Italians to cut off his supply of the immensely popular Europiccola, Cara abruptly stopped selling the MARCFI line (which they were rebranding as "La Cara," and selling as "budget" alternatives to La Pavoni.)  Thus ending the relatively short, and tumultuous saga of MARCFI in America. 

Cara had sold a few MARCFI models, including this analog to the newly released "Professional" model, and the smaller "Piccola," an obvious "Europiccola" knock off.  But with their new fear of pissing off La Pavoni, Cara soon started refusing to service them, and counseled customers into buying new La Pavonis as replacements.  So even though they sold quite a few, they are fairly rare today. 

But that doesn't mean they were very capable machines.  And every now and then we come across one like this, in nice condition! 

In fact, we'd argue that aside from the bases (which tended to be a little lightly chromed, or covered with odd gray "rubbery" stuff that lifted up and had rust issues if people didn't keep the drip trays dry) overall the machines had better build quality than the Pavonis of the same era.  The groups are essentially identical to the 1960's Pavoni, with beautiful thick chrome plated brass, but MARCFI had smartly cast them with a flange that bolted onto the group for easy maintenance (unlike the threaded screw in style Pavoni group which made changing group seals a major pain.)

The boilers were larger than the Pavoni, and with an outside chrome surround (the brass boiler is actually inside and slightly smaller in diameter, leaving an heat insulating air gap.)  Which meant you could touch it while making espresso and not end up in the hospital, unlike the Pavoni!

The La Graziella were essentially "La Pavoni Professionals" without the pressure gauge, or pressurestat control (still using a metered pressure vent in the cap) but with the added two improvements mentioned above, a substantially different machine. 

And because MARCFI had "copies" of the Pavoni group, it means you can use the same seals and hardware as the "brass sleeve" La Pavoni models.  So "consumable" maintenance parts (gaskets and seals) are still cheap and readily available.  

Except the heating element.  It's made of "Unobtanium."  So it behooves people to not go off and leave one unattended!

This La Graziella is a really nice example, as we said, with minimal wear in the troublesome drip tray (which we've treated with rust converter and painted) an excellent rubber sub base, and beautiful chrome plating covering the rest, including the "swoopy" steam wand.  Except for a small amount of scuffing on the front of the base where someone got a little aggressive removing the "La Cara" sticker, it's in very presentable condition. 

Of course we cleaned, lubed, adjusted, and rebuilt the group with all new seals, and portafilter gasket.  And rebuilt the steam valve as well.  So should be good to go for quite a while!  

To sum up: As fun as a Pavoni, at half the price!   (With arguably twice the "character.")

Comes with it's vintage convex tamper, and one double basket.  (Pavoni 49mm portafilters and baskets will obviously fit if you want more!)