In life as in death, it was all about the coffee for Renato Bialetti.
When the 93-year-old Italian entrepreneur who brought the stove-top Moka coffee maker to the masses died on Feb. 11, his family decided there was only one way for him to be buried. They placed his ashes inside one of his iconic, octagonal aluminum pots.
Bialetti’s remains were blessed by a priest in his hometown of Casale Corte Cerro, 60 miles northwest of Milan, on Tuesday before being interred in the family tomb in nearby Omega.
Bialetti’s father Alfonso acquired the patent for the coffee maker in 1933. According to The Local, Alfonso struggled to sell the gadget and made just 70,000 units before his son Renato took over the company in 1947.
The younger Bialetti launched an ambitious marketing campaign, imprinting a caricature of himself on the side of the pot, and went on to sell more than 330 million units worldwide. They range from single-cup makers to pots that can brew up to 24 servings.
The Bialetti family sold the business to another Italian company in 1986, and the percolators are now produced in Romania, reports The Telegraph.
The interment method may seem unusual, but it's not the most bizarre way someone's ashes have been buried.
Here's what other people have done with their loved ones' ashes:
