Translations:History of coffee/45/en

In Turin, in 1933, Italian engineer Luigi Di Ponti invented the first moka pot and subsequently sold the patent to Alfonso Bialetti. In 1946 Alfonso's son Renato started industrial production, selling millions of moka pots in one year, versus only 70000 sold by his father in the previous 10, making the coffee maker (as well as coffee) an icon of Italy in the world. Naples, albeit being known today as the city of coffee, has seen it later, probably through the ships coming in the ports of Sicily and Naples itself. Some date the Neapolitan discovery of coffee back to 1614, when the composer, explorer and musicologist Pietro Della Valle sent news from the Holy Land, in his letters to the dear friend, physician, poet, Greek scholar and Mario Schipano and his gathering of intellectuals, of a drink (called kahve) the Arab Muslims brewed in hot pots.