Italian roaster Ditta Artigianale and manufacturer Simonelli Group have partnered to launch La Scuola Del Caffé, a training school with the goal of expanding specialty coffee in Italy.
Simonelli calls the school an educational hub and place where people can unite and interpolate themselves in the specialty coffee industry, expanding their knowledge and the culture of Italian quality coffee.
“In Simonelli Group, we use technology to push ourselves over the peak of knowledge and look to the future, but this isn’t the only aspiration,” Simonelli Group CEO Fabio Ceccarani says.
“A successful company needs to think about the environment, the society, and the people. The cooperation with the Coffee School is perfectly in line with our company mission and with our daily commitment towards technological, environmental, and cultural sustainable growth.”
Ceccarani compares the rise of specialty coffee to that of the Renaissance and Humanism cultural periods of Italy that slowly expanded around the whole country. Like La Scuola Del Caffé, these movements originated in Florence.
“The famous scholars of the Italian Renaissance, for example, Leonardo [Da Vinci], could combine science with individual ability. The story repeats itself today amidst the coffee society; a solid base of technical know-how and personal expertise are the key to expand coffee culture,” Ceccarani says.
“This is the great strength and uniqueness of the team-up between Ditta Artigianale and Simonelli Group. The roaster’s profound knowledge and experience about coffee, combined with our scientific and technical expertise, creates the perfect mix for complete educational and enriching courses. Who attends the Coffee School will surely attain a solid foundation with a 360° understanding of coffee, extraction technology, and different aspects of research.”
He says for several years, the Simonelli Group platform has and will continue to dedicate itself to different and specific educational programs.
“Another valuable element that determines this project is the exclusive collaboration with the Coffee Science Foundation of [the Specialty Coffee Association] and our research hub,” Ceccarani says.
“Every year our hub shares the results of the studies and makes available the actual laboratories. The pot holds the perfect ingredients for a fruitful collaboration. And the goal is quite high: make the Italian Renaissance of specialty coffee, history.”
The Coffee School provides training courses centred around coffee, technology, and research, recognising knowledge, structures, laboratories, and experts provided by its founding companies.
Marco Feliziani, Vice President and Commercial Director of Simonelli Group, calls Florence the ideal spot to begin this ambitious project.
“It is a pleasure to return to this beautiful town and offer, after almost 100 years, a brand new project,” Feliziani says.
“In the 1930s, a unique Victoria Arduino [brand of Simonelli Group] coffee machine was installed in the old Fiorentina stadium – a mural machine with 24 dispensing groups, architecturally and technologically advanced for those times, was a superb and inspiring artwork. Today, sealing the union with Ditta Artigianale, we give tribute to Florence and contribute to the growth of Italian coffee culture.”
The Coffee School is an international project for Simonelli Group, combines coffee-based projects with Experience Labs in Florence, London, Barcelona, New York, Shanghai, and Jakarta.
“Innovation and research are fundamental values for our identity,” Feliziani says.
“Such values guided the evolution of our espresso coffee machines and grinders for generations contributing to the growth of our coffee knowledge. 2020 is the year where Simonelli Group takes the next step towards this new project, which marks the third company asset along with innovation and sustainability: knowledge.”
The Scuola del Caffè course calendar will be available from June 2020, while classes will begin January 2021.
For more information, visit www.simonelli-group.com
