The Lavazza family controls the Italian coffee company Lavazza, founded in Turin by Luigi Lavazza in 1895.
Luigi Lavazza opened a small grocery shop in Turin in 1895. He experimented with blending coffee from different origins, an approach that helped distinguish Lavazza as coffee became a larger consumer business in Italy. The company later expanded from retail sales into packaged coffee, cafés, vending and international distribution.
Lavazza remained family-run across successive generations. The fourth generation, including Giuseppe and Francesca Lavazza, has represented the family in senior leadership and company governance. Lavazza is often compared with Illy, Segafredo and other Italian coffee names, but those businesses have separate founders and ownership histories. The company’s Turin origin is an important part of its identity: the brand became international while retaining a direct link to the grocery shop opened by Luigi Lavazza at the end of the nineteenth century.