ABOUT US


Over 40 years of passion and expert craftsmanship have shaped Calvisius and Ars Italica into industry leaders for both environmental methods and the production of premium-quality caviar. 


The sturgeon flourish in two farms in northern Italy: Calvisano, between Milan and Venice (close to Lake Garda), and Canove, by the Ticino Natural Park, for a total of 150 acres of freshwater ponds fed by pristine, natural water, thriving in an environment that is as close as possible to their natural habitat. 


All caviars are processed at the headquarters in Calvisano.


THE GOLD STANDARD IN AQUACULTURE


Calvisius was one of the first companies in the world to create a large scale sturgeon farm: to date it is, in fact, the most cutting edge farm with respect to the know-how for the production of caviar of the highest quality. 


Calvisius produces the largest variety of caviars in the world and is an industry benchmark in terms of farming standards, quality and quantity of the caviar produced. 


Our state-of-the-art sustainable practices include replenishing rivers worldwide with previously endangered stocks as Calvisius specializes in raising pure sturgeon breeds.

  

Our core values

Our history, our every gesture and action have always been guided by principles such as Quality, Craftsmanship and Sustainability.  

These are the pillars that inform our daily values, the foundation, and the goal of all our efforts.

  • Craftsmanship
  • Source
  • Time
  • Sustainability

For over forty years, the expert hands of the Calvisius Caviar Masters have been taking care of our caviar, using state of the art techniques combined with old world production methods, resulting in the production of a fully traceable, sustainable, fresh, premium quality caviar. The attention to detail makes Calvisius and Ars Italica some of the most sought after delicacies of the gourmet world, appreciated worldwide by Chefs and consumers alike, and bringing the tasting experience back to the Golden Age of Caviar.


We believe that the quality of our products relies directly upon the well-being of our sturgeons. To this end, we make sure our fish are bred in pure spring water and fed the highest quality organic foods. Being breeders, manufacturers, and distributors of our lineup, we have direct control over every aspect of the lives of our sturgeons and caviar production, offering full transparency and traceability on every tin that comes out of our farms.


Our caviars are the result of careful monitoring of the wellbeing of the fish, patient wait, constant care, and state of the art farming techniques that guarantee the respect of the sturgeons’ lifecycle. Connoisseurs truly appreciate the pure nature of our caviar, prepared with the traditional Malossol technique, which allows for a full expression of nuances in flavor profile between the various species and their different types of caviar.


Calvisius prides itself for being one of the largest sturgeon DNA databases in the world, having contributed to the replenishment of depleted stock worldwide; its sustainable aquaculture model is based on the management of complex systems that promote biological processes and maintain the natural balance of the ecosystem. Sturgeons live in an environment very close to their natural habitat, with access to additional food supplementation, as they would catch in the wild. This increases the sustainability of the production, as well as the organoleptic quality of the fish and particularly of the caviar.


MORE history

+ Pioneers of Sustainable Aquaculture

The story of Calvisius begins in the late '70s with the foundation of Agroittica, an avant-garde fish farm that maximizes the integration of an industrial, aquaculture, and agricultural environment, thus setting the standard for sustainable aquaculture for the years to come. In 1981 Gino Ravagnan, longtime partner of the company, and Professor Serge Doroshov, marine biologist of Davis University in California, jointly develop a pioneering project, which leads to breeding White Sturgeon, a sturgeon species indigenous of the Pacific Ocean, at the farms in Calvisano. 


The introduction of the new species represents the beginning of a great and prosperous adventure for Agroittica, making it the first company in Europe capable of raising sturgeon in captivity. 


The passion, craftsmanship, commitment, and research allocated to the care and wellbeing of White Sturgeon and its farming environment, result in the production of a superior quality caviar, Calvisius Tradition, also called "the Black Gold of Calvisano.  

+ Crossing borders and expanding the lineup

In 1998 the Washington Convention (CITES) includes sturgeon on the list of species at risk of extinction, a key factor which contributes to the international growth of the company. On the eve of the new millennium, Calvisius reaches a new milestone, with a constantly increasing demand and the introduction on the market of new types of caviar (Calvisius Siberian and Calvisius Tradition Elite). 


Since the early 2000s, Calvisius is the caviar of choice of major international airlines for its pure and fresh caviar. 


In 2008, a new expansion takes place and alliance is formed with the Giovannini family, pioneers in northern Italy in aquaculture and in breeding of local sturgeon species and founders of Italian Caviar and the brand Ars Italica, dedicated to the renaissance of the authentic/original Italian caviar. Ars Italica is thus added to the Calvisius lineup and a new line of products allows to expand the caviar collection with five new different species of sturgeon. Among these, the Oscietra, or Russian sturgeon, coveted species originally native to the Caspian and Black Sea. 


In 2009, Calvisius opens its offices in New York City and starts exporting its caviars to the United States. Success does not stop, and Russia, the traditional homeland of caviar, opens its doors to the caviar of Calvisius and Ars Italica. This is another benchmark for the company, a result of the commitment, the attention, and passion that the company imparts to each of its products to always ensure the highest quality. 


In 2016, Calvisius opens its headquarters in Paris, France.