From the moment the first coffee bean arrived in Venice in the late 16th century, the infusion did more than flavour a beverage. It seeped into the very DNA of Italian life. What began as an exotic import quickly transformed into a ritual, weaving itself through the streets of Naples, the historic cafés of Turin, the bustling centres of Milan, and the heart of Rome.
Usually, a pilgrimage to the “world’s coffee capital” requires a flight to Venice or a journey through the design archives of Milan. However, until 12 May, the heart of Italian culture has found a temporary “home” at the “Passione Italiana: L'Arte dell'Espresso” exhibition in Bangkok.
Taking place at NEXTOPIA on the fifth floor of Siam Paragon, the exhibition brings the excellence of Italian design and the soul of the espresso directly to the city. Organised by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Bangkok, it offers a sensory deep dive into the machines, their designs, and the minds that defined a global culture.
A cultural language, not just a drink.
As Paolo Dionisi, the Italian Ambassador to Thailand, noted at the opening of the exhibition, “coffee in Italy is a social ritual that structures daily life. In Italy, coffee means espresso,” he reminded visitors. “In Italy, when you enter a coffee shop, you don't ask for an espresso, but you ask just for a caffè because in Italy, coffee means espresso.” While Italy grows no coffee beans of its own, it became the world's leading roasting and design hub. The exhibition traces this evolution from 16th-century Venetian traders to the modern sustainable revolution.
Architecture in Miniature: Gallery Highlights
Curated by Elisabetta Pisa, the show features 40 authentic masterpieces on loan from institutions including the Lumac Museum and the Alessi Museum. Pisa describes her selection as a deliberate balancing act: “In this exhibition, the coffee culture — because in Italy, coffee is a lifestyle. But also, we would like to present the design, the importance of the evolution of the machine and the coffee culture.”
She added that the design of espresso coffee makers and pots was presented as a blend of aesthetic expression and perfect functionality, elevating a daily gesture to a sensory experience.
The facts behind the objects are quietly staggering. The Bialetti Moka, born in the 1930s, has sold over 105 million units worldwide and sits in the permanent collections of major design museums across the globe. Riccardo Dalisi’s contribution tells a different story: a decade-long research process conducted alongside the last tin artisans of Naples, yielding over 200 hand-crafted prototypes of the traditional Neapolitan coffee pot — work that earned him the Compasso d’Oro, Italy’s most prestigious design award.
“I think everywhere in the world, in each house in the world, you have a Moka coffee maker,” said the Italy Ambassador, signalling Italy's cultural global influence.
Elsewhere, Aldo Rossi's La Conica and La Cupola treat the coffee maker as a “monument in miniature,” their geometric precision recalling cathedrals and towers rather than kitchen tools. Gaetano Pesce's Vesuvio transforms steam into a dramatic resin plume — a tribute to the soul of Naples. And Michele De Lucchi's Pulcina, with its stepped internal shape, is engineered to halt the brew at the precise moment before bitterness sets in.
Beyond the gallery
The exhibition is just one thread of a richer programme. Visitors can browse the Sip of Italy Market, where curated premium beans from across the country are available for purchase, supported by the Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce. At venues including Dean & Deluca and Fikka, specially created menus weave Italian coffee into both food and drink, the result of collaborations between Italian chefs and NEXTOPIA's restaurants. On 30 April, the festival pauses to mark International Jazz Day with a live performance — a celebration of jazz as, in the words of the organisers, a universal language of freedom.
The exhibition closes not with nostalgia but with ambition. Lavazza's Tablì — dispensing coffee in solid tab form, without packaging — asks whether the next century of Italian design might be defined as much by ecological conscience as by beauty. It is a question that resonates deeply within NEXTOPIA's broader Local Harvest Coffee Fest, where the same values of sustainability and community run through the Thai coffee farms represented across the floor.
“The exhibition aims to foster a dialogue between Italy and Thailand,” Pisa noted, "bridging tradition and modernity, craftsmanship and elegance, technology and development.” Standing before a gilded Faema Marte — its chrome surface still catching the light as it did in the cafés of post-war Milan — that dialogue feels less like diplomacy and more like kinship.
"Passione Italiana: L'Arte dell'Espresso," part of the NEXTOPIA Local Harvest Coffee Fest 2026, runs until 12 May 2026 at NEXTOPIA, 5th Floor, Siam Paragon, Bangkok.
