Museum dedicated to Illy, the espresso machine inventor to open in Timisoara

Whether you love coffee or not, you probably heard of Illy. The Illy expresso machine was created by Francesco Illy, a man who was born in Timisoara in 1892.

In his honor, the city of Timisoara will create a coffee museum dedicated to Francesco, the man who has invented the espresso machine. The new museum will be located in one of the water towers. According to renasterea.ro the city council has already announced that they have already set up the technical project and they have started designing the place so the Iosefin water tower will become functional. The work will begin this year and the council is also hoping to save the place with money from the local budget. They have estimated that the cost of the project is around 200,000 euros.

Francesco Illy has also received the distinction of honorary citizen of Timisoara in 2014 and his descendents received an excellence diploma.

Illy was born in 1892 in a mixed family. His mother was German and his father was Hungarian. He has worked as an accountant and also as a coffee machine inventor. After graduating from secondary school he moved to Vienna where he worked for two companies. At the age of 22 he joined the Austro-Hungarian army and he has fought in many battles including the Krasnik and Isonzo battle.

After the war he moved to Trieste, Italy and he worked with companies that dealt with cocoac. He has invented his own method of keep roasted coffee fresh creating depresurized coffee cans.

In 1933 he has invented the first automatic coffee machine which has replaced the steam presurrised water. The company is now led by the third generation of Illys.