The Italian Christian Cavaletti He is a doctor in chemistry specialized in organic synthesis, but the great passion of his life is in the form of a can and has completely invaded the basement of his house. In 1989 he started collect pepsi cansAnd it hasn’t stopped since. In 2004 it received the Guiness Award for the largest collection of cans of this soft drink after hoarding 4,391 units, but now it has many, many more.
This year, Cavaletti has broken his own record by certifying the organization that is now the happy owner of a total of 12,402 cans from all over the world and of all times, at least since the drink began to be manufactured in that format. The gigantic collection, which he shares with his brother, is the fruit of a very peculiar dream: to transform his heritage into the largest exhibition of Pepsi cans in the world, a true museum.
This is how he tells it on his website, which has not been updated since 2020, but whose design already vintage or even old, in computer terms, is a good reflection of the spirit with which his collector bug arose, back in the month of June 1989. Although the collection started in a very different way to what it is today, and it was thanks to his brother’s passion for another product of popular culture.
From ‘Back to the Future’ collector to Pepsi obsession
The most veterans of the place will remember that in 2015 we echoed the promotional campaign that Pepsi launched by launching a limited edition of its mythical PepsiPerfect. It was the specific date Marty McFlythe character played by Michael J. Fox, travels from the 80s in the film ‘back to the future 2‘, where he consumes said drink, with a most peculiar design.
Edward CavatelliChristian’s brother, was fascinated by the film by Robert Zemeckis, and began collecting objects and merchandising related to the saga, including the futuristic bottle. This aroused the interest of his brother as a collector, which would lead to growing and exclusive attention to Pepsi cans.
It would only take two years for both brothers to become known in the collecting circuit linked to drinks and other objects of pop culture, baptizing them as “the Cavaletti twins”even though Christian is eight years younger.
It is the youngest of the family who took the hobby to a true obsession that would soon focus on his ambitious dream goal: to open the first and largest museum of Pepsi cans from around the world.
His idea, which he already announced with enthusiasm since he launched his website, is to gather, preserve and disseminate the treasured works, also creating a certain museographic assembly including complementary information and content to illustrate the history and curiosities surrounding the brand and each of the cans.
A basement to travel through time and the world
In this way, the basement of Cavaletti’s current home in Alba Adriatica, married with two children, is completely invaded by thousands of cans of all sizes, colors and designs imaginable. The collector, who works in a local textile company, keeps true incunabula and complete series that are the envy of any specialized collector.
One of the most valuable pieces in its catalog is nothing less than a can of the first pepsi series made of history 1948very different from the current models, showing in its decoration illustrations of the plate with the classic old logo of the brand, on a white background and highlighting the colors red and blue, lighter than the dark tone that predominates today.
Also, as a curiosity, it reads at the bottom ‘No deposit – No return‘, in reference to the fact that soda cans were invented precisely to end the need to return bottles to shops once empty.
In the vast collection of cans, arranged chronologically by country, not only are the most peculiar editions with exotic flavors exclusive to other regions, such as Pepsi mango, but there are also authentic Rare avis like the “spatial” one, a replica of the model sent by NASA on the STS 51-F mission in 1985, with a nozzle and adapted to its consumption in space, a project in which its great rival, Coca-Cola, also participated.
It also highlights the largest series of Pepsi cans manufactured in Europe, coincidentally coming from Spainoriginally from the 80s and showing illustrations of superheroes from the Marvel Universe and Fighter Planes. This complete set alone is currently valued at around $40,000.
With his recently renewed diploma confirming that he is the proud largest collector of Pepsi cans in the world, Cavaletti hopes to continue increasing his wealth also through donations or collaborations, so that he can finally open a permanent exhibition with an initial fund of, at less, 15,000 soda cans duly cataloged.
Compared to the 12,402 Pepsi cans of this Italian, the largest collector of cans of Cokethe canadian Gary Fenghoard only 11,308 units. Far from sharing the rivalry of both brands, the two collectors are good friends.
Guinness World Records 2022
Images | Guinness World Records – Cavaletti – Qirille
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