Calisto Tanzi (17 November 1938 – 1 January 2022) was an Italian businessman. He founded

Parmalat Parmalat S.p.A. is an Italian dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961. Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk us ...

in 1961, after

dropping out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most in ...

of college. Parmalat collapsed in 2003 with a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

14bn ($20bn; £13bn) hole in its accounts in what remains

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's biggest bankruptcy. In 2008 Tanzi was found to have embezzled an estimated €800 million from the company, and was jailed for fraud. Although sentenced to up to 18 years in prison, Tanzi served just over two years in jail and then was placed under house arrest.

Trials and imprisonment

Parmalat fraud

In December 2008, Tanzi was convicted by a

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

court and sentenced to 10 years in prison for fraud. Tanzi appealed the sentence but the appeals court upheld it in May 2010. The

Corte di Cassazione The Supreme Court of Cassation () is the highest court of appeal or court of last resort in Italy. It has its seat in the Palace of Justice, Rome. The Court of Cassation also ensures the correct application of law in the inferior and appea ...

reduced it to eight years and one month, after which Tanzi was imprisoned on 5 May 2011.

Parmalat bankruptcy

On 9 December 2010, a court in

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

found Tanzi guilty of fraudulent bankruptcy and criminal association and sentenced him to 18 years in prison. Tanzi appealed the sentence and the appeal trial started in December 2011 in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Parmatour bankruptcy

On 20 December 2011, Tanzi was sentenced to a further nine years and two months for the Parmatour bankruptcy.

Parma bankruptcy

Tanzi was fined

10,000 and given a six-month ban from football for false accounting of

in the 2002–03 season.

Artwork seizure

In 2001, according to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', he was listed as a billionaire with a net worth of roughly $1.3 billion. In December 2009, the Italian authorities announced that they had seized nineteen

works of art A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

belonging to Tanzi, which had been concealed at the houses of his friends. The works of art were said to be worth more than

100 million and included paintings and drawings by

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

and

van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

. Tanzi had denied owning any hidden works of art. Parma

Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

Gerardo Laguardia, said that officials had acted quickly to seize the pictures after discovering that they had been offered for sale. The authorities said that Stefano Strini, Tanzi's son-in-law, was being investigated for allegedly handling the artwork. On 29 October 2019, Tanzi's art collection was auctioned off in Milan. “Rediscovered Treasures: Impressionists and Modern Masterpieces from a Private Collection” included artworks by such artists as Balla,

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

, Cézanne, Kandinsky,

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, Modigliani and

Honours

Tanzi was appointed Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1984 and Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 1999. Both honours, however, were withdrawn on grounds of 'indignity' in the wake of the Parmalat affair — yet before the final bankruptcy conviction — by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; 29 June 1925 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian politician who served as President of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first to be re-elected to the office. In office for 8 years and 244 days, he was the longest-serving pre ...

Personal life and death

Tanzi died of pneumonia in a

hospital on the New Year's Day of 2022, at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanzi, Calisto 1938 births 2022 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Emilia-Romagna Confidence tricksters Italian businesspeople Italian fraudsters Italian prisoners and detainees People convicted of fraud Prisoners and detainees of Italy People from the Province of Parma