“Nero”, “goccia”, “capo in b”... coffee in Trieste is a serious matter — but why?

Trieste became a Free Port in 1719 by the will of Charles VI of Habsburg, and it grew also thanks to the decline of Venice. Between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Port of Trieste expanded, becoming an ideal hub for many traders. This is where the first coffee shipments arriving by sea from Ethiopia and Yemen were handled, eventually occupying around 40,000 square meters of warehouses.

Many insurance companies — another cornerstone of Trieste’s economic development — began specializing in covering the storage and handling of coffee. Shops soon opened throughout the city where freshly roasted coffee could be enjoyed. It was in Trieste that a key innovation was born: coffee blending. Later, one of the first companies specializing in decaffeination was established here, making yet another fundamental contribution to modern coffee culture.

It is no surprise, then, that today, with an average of about 10 kg of coffee consumed per person each year, Trieste is one of the Italian cities with the highest coffee consumption. It is also home to coffee research centers, specialized laboratories, and professional training schools in the coffee sector.

A key figure in the 20th century was Francesco Illy, a Hungarian who had studied in Timișoara and worked in Vienna — a true embodiment of Trieste’s cosmopolitan spirit. He founded illycaffè in Trieste in 1933. Two years later, he invented the Illetta, the forerunner of modern espresso machines, and developed the pressurization technique, a method that preserves coffee’s qualities over time, enabling exports abroad. His son Ernesto Illy, who joined the company in the late 1940s, made major contributions to scientific and technological innovation in the company. He introduced smaller cans of ground coffee for home use — another significant shift in coffee consumption habits.

The life and work of Ernesto Illy will be celebrated at our Conference Center on July 18, during the event “The Values of Ernesto Illy: Reflections One Hundred Years After His Birth”, dedicated to marking his centenary. To attend, registration is free but required.