Francesco Illy ( hu, Illy Ferenc (7 October 1892 – 1956) was a Hungarian

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certi ...

, bookkeeper, businessman, philanthropist. He founded

illy Illycaffè S.p.A. (branded and stylised as illy) is an Italian coffee company specializing in espresso, headquartered in Trieste. Illy markets its coffee globally in silver and red pressurized, oxygen-free cans; operates a network of cafes on s ...

and invented various coffee machinery.

Biography

Illy was born to a middle-class family in Temesvár,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

(now

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

). His father, János Illy, was a carpenter. His mother, Aloisia Rössler, was

Danube Swabian The Danube Swabians (german: Donauschwaben ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in various countries of central-eastern Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in grea ...

. He studied economics in Temesvár. After secondary school, he moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he worked for two big Transylvanian companies. At the age of 22, he was

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...

into the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

, and served from 1914 at almost every front of the First World War, including at the Battle of Kraśnik and the

Battles of the Isonzo The Battles of the Isonzo (known as the Isonzo Front by historians, sl, soška fronta) were a series of 12 battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I mostly on the territory of present-day Slovenia, and the remainde ...

. After the war, he stayed with his sister in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

, where he soon married a Triestine woman. He found work with companies dealing with

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and

coffee roasting Roasting coffee transforms the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavor of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to change in taste. ...

. He later invented his own method for maintaining the quality of freshly roasted coffee, so it could be delivered to other locations rather than roasting it on site. He formed a partnership with the local coffee manufacturers Hausbrandt. In 1933 Illy founded illycaffè, which invented the first automatic coffee machine that substituted pressurized water for steam. The ''Illetta'' became the predecessor of today's

espresso machine An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso. The first machine for making espresso was built i ...

. His son, the food chemist

Ernesto Illy Ernesto Illy (July 18, 1925 – February 3, 2008) was an Italian food chemist and businessman, known as the chairman of the Illycaffè S.p.A. coffee manufacturer. He was deeply and widely respected, and is considered "an absolute giant" in the ...

(1925–2008) took over the management of the coffee company, which is now in the hands of the third generation Illys.

References

Italian people of Hungarian descent Hungarian inventors 19th-century Italian businesspeople Businesspeople in coffee Businesspeople from Trieste Businesspeople from Timișoara 1892 births 1956 deaths Austro-Hungarian people Hungarian industrialists Hungarian chief executives 19th-century Hungarian businesspeople Illycaffè Engineers from Trieste 20th-century Italian inventors Austro-Hungarian inventors 20th-century Hungarian inventors {{Hungary-bio-stub