When PierLuca Di Genua-Angrisano was setting up his Italian ice shop in Sydney, there was only one country he considered when shopping for an espresso machine.
At the start of 2024, PierLuca Di Genua-Angrisano (or Pep as he’s known to friends) wanted to fulfil his father’s ambition of owning a gelato shop following the sale of his family’s wholesale Italian import business. There was just one issue: he can’t eat dairy.
Being lactose intolerant, Pep wanted to share something almost everyone could enjoy and saw a gap in the market for gelato’s little-known cousin, Italian ice. Not quite sorbet or granita, the traditional European dessert is a blend of fruit, sugar, and water churned into a semi-frozen treat using a gelato machine. Naming the venue Pep’s, he decided the star of the show would be a kaleidoscopic range of Italian ice flavours crafted from a seasonal array of ingredients.
“When we launched in July 2024, we were Australia’s first ever Italian ice dealer,” says Pep.
Eager to create an authentically Italian experience, Pep broadened the menu to include a range of panini named after different regions to represent their fillings. Napoli, for example, features Italian sausage and friarielli, while Calabria compiles Calabrese salami, ricotta, roasted capsicum, taggiasca olives, and hot honey. Of course, no Italian dessert shop would be complete without coffee.
“We import a traditional Italian blend from Napoli called Caffè Moreno, which you can only get in a few places in Australia. It’s a dark roast with a very strong flavour and our customers love it,” he says.
To get the most out of the beans, Pep knew he needed a trustworthy machine that could handle the busy periods and produce a silky, Italian-style espresso. Therefore, going for a traditional Italian brand was a no-brainer.
“My family has known Fabio [Cordovado, Founder of Coffee Works Express, Australian distributor of Wega espresso machines] for years. We told him what we wanted to achieve at the new venue and he suggested the Wega Nova,” says Pep.
The recently reworked Nova model is designed for ultimate ease of use. Each group head features an interactive console to enhance workflow and produce coffee at the touch of a button, while an updated steam wand delivers improved ergonomics for maximum performance and features cool-touch technology to reduce the risk of injury.
According to Pep, his team have found the machine extremely easy to operate. He says its able to keep up with demand at peak times when the coffee orders come through as quickly as those for the Italian ice.
“The Nova is strong and powerful, exactly what we need at Pep’s. It can pump out a lot of coffees under pressure,” he says.
“So far, we’ve only been open from 11am to 11pm, but we’re planning to do mornings soon, so we expect there to be an increased demand for coffee. We currently do around 300 cups a day, so I have no doubt the Nova will be able to perform as this starts to rise.”
A cup lifting mechanism built into the drip tray of the machine aids workflow, allowing the user to easily adjust the height of the cup without the addition of extra equipment. For a venue like Pep’s that continuously switches between drink-in and take-out orders, it saves valuable seconds when crafting each order.
While the coffee gets a lot of compliments, Pep says many customers have also commented on the look of the Wega Nova.
“The whole feel of the shop is very Italian: our red, white, and green signage often has visitors mistaking us for a pizza place. Having that authentic Italian look really speaks to the kind of service-focused family experience we wanted to create,” he says.
“It was important that the machine fit into the look and feel of the rest of the shop. The Nova hits the brief perfectly. It’s an elegant machine and we get a lot of people commenting on how beautiful it is.”
When designing the Nova, Wega’s engineers sought to “break down the classic aesthetic architectures of coffee machines”. While it was developed to first and foremost be a functional machine, they were keen to ensure it still captured the beauty of Wega’s traditional design and craftsmanship.
For more information, visit Australian distributor cwe.com.au or wega.it/en
