Our Heritage: The origin of Vibiemme is intimately connected to FAEMA: the founder of both companies being one Mr.Carlo Earnesto Valente.

Carlo Valente opened a laboratory in Milan in 1945 to produce espresso coffee machines called FAEMA .The 50’s saw FAEMA growing constantly and contributing significantly to developing espresso machine technology.

The turning point came in 1961when the company introduced to the Italian market the E61 model. The principle of the E61 head (water charge-infusion-discharge) is still used today on the vast majority of machines. It user friendly with excellent heat characteristics resulting in superb quality coffee.

It would be fair to say that right up until the mid 70’s FAEMA was considered by all to make the very best machines, producing the very best quality espresso. By this time FAEMA had became very diversified and found itself in financial difficulty. Many strikes, a common occurrence in Italy at this time, affected production, and in 1976 FAEMA SPA was declared insolvent. Earnsto was forced to hand the company over to the state.

Mr. Valente then created a new company from scratch: Vibiemme, pronounced like the letters v.b.m ( the V stands for Valente , the B for Biancolini, and the M for Meroni.) These three men had been FAEMA’s top management prior to state ownership. Italy’s most respected espresso machine experts were concentrated into a small company focused solely on espresso machines.

Mr. Valente passed away in 1985 and ownership passed over to his son Fabio and to the Nouva Faema company.
In the intervening years Vibiemme pioneered many new innovations and was highly respected in the Italian market.

Mr Valente on the right
with the President of Italy

Innovations

1. The first electronic machine (timer).
2. The first patent infusion system on the automatic group (1978).
3. Invented and patented the fresh water system for tea and long blacks using a third heat exchanger so that water is 3-4 degrees C less than the boiled water.
4. The first company to put the motor and pump inside the machine.
5. The Domobar, developed in 1983(Domus for home, Bar for café) is the first machine for the home market with commercial performance and is still the leader in the field.

Vibiemme is currently run by Christiano Orsanto, the son of Pietro Orsanto who had become a major shareholder during the late 80’s and early 90’s. Pietro had kept the focus of the company on quality and innovation. Christiano is also a firm believer in these features.

Realizing that the machines are now technically near perfection he has resisted other companies strategies of tinkering and has instead focused on cutting edge design while adhering to Mr. Valente’s philosohphy of the best quality engineering and espresso producing machines.

The top espresso service company in New Zealand, headed by Michael Gerbic recognized this and became the master importer of Vibemme. Michael then spent a number of months tuning the machines for New Zealand conditions including our unique coffee blends.

Vibemme are happy to manufacture to these requirements. To our knowledge these are the only machines tuned for this country. Valente Coffee Machinery continues to provide technical feedback to Vibiemme ensuring a process of continual improvement.