Yes! The stove top get ups and Moka pots are really cut from the same cloth and to some degree would have been commonplace in Italian kitchens. If you take a gander on eBay it's possible to pick up some worn stove top espresso makers that are frankly worthy of being museum pieces and here's the best part, it'll cost you next to nothing. The only catch using this method of preparing espresso is that it's quite difficult to make any minor adjustments and it takes hours of practice and a lot of use to get the hang of it to the point where you can make an espresso you're really happy with. I may not be entirely correct having never visited Italy but I've worked with enough Italian baristas and foodies to know that they do things with extreme flare and aren't normally known for their attention to detail, they'll throw out coffees with a trial and error approach and when they get something that works, stick with it. A fine way of doing it. If you're using small pieces of equipment at home, things like a Moka pot, aeropress or even pour over (Chemex, V60, etc) then the best advice I was ever given is to start with the grinder, avoid blade grinders at all costs as the rotation of the blades heats up the coffee as it's grinding and it's very uneven, pick up a cheap ceramic burr grinder, even if it's just a handheld, if you can afford to look at something like the Gaggia MDF (which normally accompanies the Classic) or some of the more modern equivelants. I very briefly owned a La Pavoni, picture below. It was a really nice looking piece of kit for the kitchen and a joy to use, however it didn't take long for me to work out that I had access to a range of commercial espresso machines through work and to maintain this at home was just a drain of my time. For now I mainly use a V60, pour over is fun and I have a lot to learn about it still, it's cheap and easily replaceable and very popular at the moment. Ironically I've left my whole pour over kit in work...
Cheers, I've been using my moka pot (6 cup bialetti) for a few years now along with a Hario Mini Mill (adjustable hand held burr grinder) so know them both pretty well by now and have them dialled in. Edit: That La Pavoni is a handsome piece of kit!
If it hadn't been mentioned earlier, pact coffee has a subscription model that is flexible and costs around 6.50 per 250bag and it tastes good
