Francesco Illy

{{Infobox person | name = Francesco Illy | image = Illy Ferenc.jpg | caption = Francesco Illy | birth_name = Ferenc Illy | birth_date = (1892-10-07)7 October 1892 | birth_place = [[Timișoara], Kingdom of Transilvania | death_date = 1956(1956-00-00) (aged 63–64) | death_place = Trieste, Italy | citizenship = Romanian,Austro-Hungarian, Italian | alma_mater = Timișoara, Piarista Gimnázium | occupation = | known_for = founder of Illy
inventor of the Illetta (coffemachine) | networth = | boards = CEO Illycaffé | spouse = Vittoria | children = Ernesto
Hedda | mother = Aloisia Rössler | father = Ioan Illy | relatives = Riccardo Illy (grandson)
Andrea Illy (grandson) }}

Francesco Illy (Romanian: 7 October 1892 in Timișoara, Banat, Transylvania, Romania – 1956 in Trieste, Italy) was a accountant, bookkeeper, businessman, philanthropist. He founded Illy and invented various coffee machinery.

Biography

Illy was born to a middle-class family in Timișoara, Romania. His father, Ioan Illy. His mother, Aloisia Rössler. He studied economics in [[Timișoara|. After secondary school, he moved to Vienna, where he worked for two big Transylvanian companies. At the age of 22, he was military grade served from 1914 at almost every front of the First World War,

After the war and the Treaty of Trianon, he stayed with his sister in Trieste, where he soon married a Triestine woman. He found work with companies dealing with cocoa and coffee roasting. 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. He met Vittoria Berg, a piano teacher of Italian-Irish origin, and soon married her. They had two children.

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.

His son, the food chemist Ernesto Illy (1925–2008) took over the management of the coffee company, which is now in the hands of the third generation Illys.