Agroittica Lombarda is the largest sturgeon breeder in Europe. From Lombardy, quality caviar conquers consumers
A special day, June 5th. It’s there World Environment Day. An opportunity to remember that luxury and sustainability are not necessarily contradictory, on the contrary. This has been demonstrated for almost fifty years by an all-Italian story that starts from the Brescia steelworks and arrives on the tables of the best restaurants in the world.
Agroittica Lombarda is the largest sturgeon farm in Europe and the first sustainable caviar producer globally. Its flagship brand, Calvisius, is present in first class of the main airlines, in excellent international delicatessens and in the most renowned starred restaurants in the world. The numbers themselves tell an absolute success story: in 2025, the company recorded a turnover of 36 million euros, produced between 25 and 30 tons of caviar per year and sold 70 percent of production abroad, with the main markets in the United States, France and Spain.
A story born from the heat of steel
It all began in the Seventies, when the partners of a Brescia steelworks realized something rather unusual: waste heat from steel production could have heated aquaculture tanks. A simple idea, apparently, but which in practice proved revolutionary.
Thus was born a truly unique model, capable of integrating the steel industry, fish farming and circular agriculture. In practice, through a heat exchanger, the thermal energy of the industrial process is transferred to the property’s spring waters, creating an optimal habitat for the sturgeons. In 2021, the renovation of the roof of the hatchery, a five thousand square meter building, led to the installation of a photovoltaic system which makes it energetically self-sufficient.
Where does caviar quality come from
«In addition to being a product of absolute excellence, for us caviar also represents a unique experience made up of gestures, emotions and culture», he states Alberto Messaggi, CEO of Agroittica Lombarda. Quality, however, is not exclusively a matter of story. It also has very specific roots.
The goodness of caviar actually arises from the constancy of the water, from the control of the sturgeon feeding and from the degree of maturation of the eggs. Added to these elements is the very narrow interval between fishing and processing. Specifically, the caviar is extracted under a laminar flow hood and processed in clean rooms with technology similar to that of operating rooms: overpressure of sterile air and strictly controlled temperature. The results were certified by BRC and IFS higher level recognition, as well as Friend of the Sea recognition for the sustainability of the production process.
A luxury that looks forward
Messaggi shared his programmatic and cultural vision of the company: «We want to bring new people closer to the world of caviar, overcoming the idea of a distant product and transforming it into an experience of discovery, conviviality and belonging». It is not a question of marketing, but the vision of a company that has been able to build a modern, efficient and environmentally friendly system around an ancient product.
On this special day, therefore, the story of Calvisius reminds us that Italian excellence knows how to make a quality product without waste. Indeed, transforming what is lost into something truly precious.
