Growing up in Italy in the 90s, Olivetti was already fading but still everywhere. My grandmother had a Lettera that I swear will outlive us all.

Reading these comments is interesting—for most of you it's nostalgia for nice hardware. In Italy it hits different. We grew up hearing about Olivetti as this national wound. Adriano dies in 1960, Tchou in a car crash a year later, electronics division sold to GE. It gets brought up whenever people complain about "cervelli in fuga" (brain drain)—look, we once had this company that attracted top talent and led the world, and we let it slip away.

I've been living abroad for 10 years now and the irony isn't lost on me. The machines were great. But in Italy what stings is the what-could-have-been.