(Naples) The Italian espresso is not just a dose of caffeine: it is a social and cultural ritual considered in the peninsula as a national treasure worthy of entering the intangible heritage of UNESCO.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Italians drink around thirty million espressos a day, from Venice to Sicily, in porcelain cups or small glasses, with or without a drop of milk. For them, it is not only a solitary pleasure, it is also a moment of conviviality.
“The espresso is an excuse to tell a friend that you care about him”, explains to AFP Massimiliano Rosati, owner of the ancient and prestigious Gambrinus coffee in Naples, who participated in the assembly of the file to include this ritual on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage of Humanity list.
“We drink it every day, at any time. It’s a moment of sharing, a magical moment,” he enthuses.
The gleaming machine enthroned behind the marble counter hisses and trembles when the “barrista” cups the ground coffee in the small receptacle that he inserts into the machine before activating a switch to run the almost boiling water over the scented powder .
” Toast ”
A proper espresso is around 25 milliliters and its “aroma should be intense and rich with flowery, fruity, chocolate and toasted notes,” according to the Italian Espresso Institute, founded in 1998 to enroll in the marble the rules governing its making.
“In the mouth, the espresso must be full-bodied and velvety, with a fair amount of bitterness”, it is specified, without forgetting on the surface “a cream […] hazelnut in color tending towards black, characterized by tawny reflections”.
The request for registration as a World Heritage Site was sent by the Ministry of Agriculture to the UNESCO National Commission for Italy, which in turn must submit it by March 31 to the headquarters of the UN agency in Paris.
Many Italian traditions have already been recognized by UNESCO, from truffle picking and the art of Neapolitan pizza to the Mediterranean diet and violin making in Cremona.
Drinking an espresso “is a rite, sacred in a way”, confirms Annamaria Conte, a 70-year-old retired teacher and regular at Gambrinus, located a stone’s throw from the famous San Carlo opera house and the seafront. .
Some amateurs like to accompany their coffee with mini pizzas or small balls of fried dough covered in sugar, while chatting with their neighbors.
“When I go abroad, I see people queuing to buy their coffee, standing one behind the other, sometimes looking at their smart phones or sitting on their side in a corner with a book. That’s not how it happens here,” insists Massimiliano Rosati.
” Childhood memories ”
“There is a custom still alive here in certain areas of Naples: when you visit someone, you do not bring a cake or flowers, but sugar and coffee,” he says.
It was Angelo Moriondo, a Turinese, who patented the first espresso machine in 1884, but it was a Milanese, Desiderio Pavoni, who was behind their mass production.
The espresso quickly became very popular from north to south of the country, with slight nuances depending on the region: more or less elongated, more or less full-bodied, accompanied by a glass of sparkling water.
At the Sant’Eustachio café, a Roman institution not far from the Pantheon, Yael Lesin-Davis, a 28-year-old tourist of British origin, enjoys a “Moretto”, an espresso topped with milk froth and cocoa powder: “I I have a lot of childhood memories associated with this place where I came to drink coffee, it is really good! »
For the owner of this café, Raimondo Ricci, a small espresso has the power to ward off loneliness even when drunk alone: ”Sometimes at home, we make coffee, and this coffee maker keeps us company by filling a room, the house”, with an aroma that reminds many people of “good memories”.