Background
Riccardo Illy was born in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
mayor politician university professor
Riccardo Illy was born in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
As a young man Illy worked as a skiing instructor at Piancavallo and a sailing instructor at Monfalcone. They have a daughter Daria who is now a Physical Education teacher and personal trainer. As the company"s Business Director, reorganised its internal business structure as well as the structures of the other firms it controlled.
He created a marketing department for the company which, up to then, did not have one.
He subsequently served as Chief Executive Officer and is presently the Vice President of the company, which has a presence in over 140 countries. Illy is the author of a book entitled Dal Caffe all"Espresso (From Coffeebeans to Espresso) published by Mondadori and translated into English, French and German.
Illy has held positions of Vice President of the Association of Industrialists in Trieste and President of the Seminario Permanente Veronelli. Standing as an independent supported by a coalition which preceded Ulivo (the Olive Branch Party) and also by a civic list bearing his name, Illy has been elected twice — in 1993 and again in 1997 — as Mayor of Trieste.
As First Citizen and a sincere music lover, he has taken up the position of President of Trieste"s Theatre Giuseppe Verdi.
Until 2002 he was Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the Transpadane European Railway Lincolnshire. He was part of the IX Parliamentary Commission (Transport, Postal Services and Telecommunications) and Secretary to the Advisory Parliamentary Commission regarding the bringing into force of the administrative reforms. He has strongly believed in and promoted the referendum not confirming the regional electoral law.
He was elected President of the Region in the elections held on 8 and 9 June 2003.
He was unanimously elected President of the Assembly of European Regions (American Economic Review) in December 2004. The American Economic Review currently has 250 member Regions from 30 European countries.
On 14 April 2008 Illy was defeated in his re-election bid by candidate Renzo Tondo, and his term as President ended on 18 April 2008.
He was awarded an honoris causa degree in Political Sciences at the University of Trieste after his "lectio doctoralis" on the topic of enlargement of Europe to the Eastern Countries. When the direct election of the President was obtained, he kept his promise to the citizens of Trieste and he ran as a candidate for the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region supported by the Democratic Coalition Party (Intesa Democratica).
In 2001, Illy was elected a Member of the Italian Parliament with the mixed group of independent members.
