Illy - History

History

The history of illycaffè is inextricably linked to the lives of the company's founder, Francesco Illy, and his family. Born in Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (since 1920 Timişoara, Romania), Francesco later came to Trieste during World War I as an officer in the army. After the war, he remained in the city, which had recently come under Italian rule, and in 1933 set up a business in the cocoa and coffee sector, eventually deciding to concentrate exclusively on coffee. From the beginning, Francesco Illy was interested in espresso coffee. In 1935, he invented the first automatic coffee machine which substituted compressed air for steam: the illetta, the predecessor of today's espresso machines.

He also devised a new packaging system for preserving coffee in which the cans were filled with inert gases instead of air pressurization. illy coffee was soon "exported" outside the immediate Trieste area, and was eventually sold all over Italy.

After the Second World War, control of the company passed to Ernesto Illy (1925–2008), son of the founder, who started a research laboratory that soon became the source of numerous new inventions and patents. It was Ernesto, a scientist and researcher, who established cooperation agreements with universities and research centres, and who promoted premium coffee around the globe. His son, Andrea Illy is currently the chairman and CEO, and his sister Anna Illy and brother Riccardo Illy are on the board.

The Illy brand is available in many countries though with significant price differences depending on import duty rates.