Press

illycaffé celebrates its 75th anniversary

July 3, 2008

This year, illycaffé celebrates its 75th anniversary. It was founded in Trieste in 1933, thanks to the vision and entrepreneurial skills of Francesco Illy, a Hungarian, who had discovered the fascinating world of coffee here, together with an especially lively cosmopolitan social and cultural fabric. To celebrate this important anniversary, therefore, illycaffè could not but choose Trieste, where there will be a number of events involving the city and the company’s interlocutors. Other major initiatives will be held in Berlin and Venice.
 
- The first celebration will take place in Trieste, where an international convention will be organised by illycaffè entitled “A broader horizon”. For this occasion, the city will host the company’s collaborators who work around the world.
 
- Between 26th September and 11th October, in the wake of exhibitions in New York and Milan, Galleria illy will be hosted in the spaces of ex-Pescheria, today Salone degli Incanti, in collaboration with the Cultural Department of the Trieste City Council. Galleria illy is a temporary space designed by illy, offering the city events dedicated to art, literature and gastronomy, as well as offering tasting courses arranged by the Università del caffè.
 
- The C/O Berlin International Forum for Visual Dialogues will host Sebastião Salgado’s In Principio exhibition between 6th September and 5th October: 60 black-and-white photographs from the project planned by illycaffè in collaboration with Contrasto, to pay homage to the coffee growers in countries from which the company buys its raw material.
 
- And finally, in Venice from 28 to 30th November, in collaboration with the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, illycaffè will celebrate one of the greatest contemporary artists, the South African William Kentridge, who has designed the illy Art Collection of espresso coffee cups with which the company celebrates its 75th anniversary. The Teatro Malibran will present the Italian premiere of an event invented and directed by Kentridge, “The Return of Ulysses”, inspired by Monteverdi’s opera. Moreover, the new video by the artist will be screened in a world premiere on the firebreak of the theatre of La Fenice.
 
“Our history is a long journey”, points out Andrea Illy, chairman and CEO of illycaffè, “an aspiration towards perfection, that has animated the company since its origins. These first 75 years are the result of our passion, carried forward with rigour, obstinacy and courage and recognised by those who daily choose our coffee.
 
We started from Trieste and it is to Trieste that we always return. It is part of our company’s DNA and we are profoundly grateful to the city for having accompanied us throughout these years. Trieste will continue to be part of our future, and it is for this reason that we have chosen to bring all our employees to celebrate our anniversary here. And to open the doors of Galleria illy – which represents the world of our brand – to all the citizens of Trieste”.
 
75 years of the art and science of espresso coffee
illycaffè was founded in Trieste on 23rd July 1933. Francesco illy, The company’s founder created the progenitor of modern espresso machines in 1935; it was called the illetta. He also patented a pressurisation process, the revolutionary system for preserving the blend and one of the principal innovations in the world of coffee in the past century. It is still used today to ensure that every market enjoys the best possible coffee.
 
Today, the company is present in 140 countries. It has 700 employees and a consolidated turnover of euro 270 million. Six million cups of illy coffee are served every day with the aim of offering six million smiles: a smile for every cup.
 
 HISTORIC MILESTONES
1933 Francesco Illy founds the company in Trieste.
1935 Francesco Illy designs and patents the “illetta”, progenitor of today’s modern espresso machines, together with a revolutionary system for preserving the blend: pressurisation. As of now, coffee can travel more than locally.
1939 illycaffè begins exporting the espresso culture: Switzerland and the Netherlands are the first countries to receive it.
1972 illycaffè is the first company in the world to start producing servings, single portions of coffee for preparing espresso coffee at home.
1980 illycaffè enters the US market; it is the first Italian coffee manufacturer to cross the ocean.
1985 illy enters its first supermarket.
1988 illycaffè patents a selecting machine which controls the coffee beans one by one.
1991 Ernesto illy creates the Brazil Prize, which annually rewards the coffee growers doing the most to assure the quality of their green coffee.
1992 Based on an idea by Francesco illy, the art coffee cup is invented, a synthesis of beauty and functionality, which will become the illy icon around the world.
1998 In the Area Science Park of Trieste, illycaffè founds the AromaLab, in which the single aromas constituting the taste of a fine coffee are identified and studied.
2001 The new tin is designed and immediately becomes an icon.
2006 The way an espresso is prepared changes: the Hyper Espresso Method double-chamber capsule and the Hyper Espresso System are invented.

 
For further information: www.illy.com
Anna Adriani/Christine Pascolo, illycaffè Trieste - Tel. +39 040 3890111
Susanna Picucci/Meretti Giorgia, Cohn & Wolfe Milano - Tel. +39 02 20239386/375
susanna_picucci@cohnwolfe.com; giorgia_meretti.ce@cohnwolfe.com