This talk traces the business histories of Lavazza, Illy, and other major Northern Italian coffee companies to illustrate the surprising ways that early twentieth century espresso machine technology and caffé design came together to create the distinctive aromas and flavors that afficionados around the globe associate with Made in Italy coffees today. The story begins in turn of the century Florence, where industry titans, Futurists, and warmongers gathered in caffès to sip coffee, and to debate the merits of militarizing Italy to enter World War I. But contrary to the predictions of the caffé philosophers, the Great War brought hardship to many Italians, and the growing discontent of its veterans ushered in the dark years of Fascism. Lavazza and Illy, now known by name for their small but growing businesses, suddenly found themselves negotiating the perils of foreign trade against of nationalist policies that branded South American coffee importation as a crime against the Fascist state. At stake in the daring solutions made by these early entrepreneurs on the eve of World War II lies the origin story of so many apparently timeless qualities of Italian espresso: dark roasts, short cups, and a foaming head of crema.
Diana Garvin is an Assistant Professor of Italian with a specialty in Mediterranean Studies in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Oregon. Garvin’s research examines the history of everyday life across Fascist Italy and Italian East Africa. In her book, Feeding Fascism: The Politics of Women's Food Work (now available with University of Toronto Press) she uses food as a lens to examine daily negotiations of power between women and the Fascist state. Garvin often writes articles on everyday life under Italian Fascism for journals like Critical Inquiry, Journal of Modern European History, Journal of Modern Italian History, Modern Italy, Annali d’italianistica, Design Issues, Food and Foodways, gender/sexuality/italyand Signs. Fellowships and awards from Fulbright, Getty Library, Oxford University, Cornell University, University of Oregon, Wolfsonian-FIU, Julia Child Foundation, CLIR Mellon, FLAS, AAUW, NWSA, and AFS have supported Garvin’s research at over thirty international archives, libraries, and museums.