Caviar is a luxury food that captivates with its rich, intense, and elegant flavor. To fully appreciate it, it’s essential to understand the long life cycle of sturgeons, the fish species from which caviar is derived. On average, a sturgeon reaches adulthood at around 13 years of age, and only then does it begin to produce the eggs that will become caviar. This lengthy growth process is one of the main reasons why caviar is considered a luxury product.

In Italy, caviar has historically been associated with the aristocracy and upper classes of society. Unlike Russia and Eastern Europe, where caviar was consumed by all social strata, its rarity in Italy, along with the limited number of sturgeons in rivers and seas, has contributed to its status as a symbol of exclusivity. Additionally, the Orthodox Church promoted the consumption of caviar during periods of abstinence from meat, further increasing its prevalence in those regions.

In the past, caviar primarily came from wild sources, but this situation has changed dramatically. Since 1998, all sturgeon species have been classified as endangered by CITES, and in 2006, the capture of sturgeons in the Caspian Sea was banned. Today, almost all caviar on the market comes from aquaculture farms, with only a small portion sourced from wild fishing.

Calvisius has always been committed to preserving sturgeon biodiversity by exclusively farming pure species, thereby contributing to the conservation of these living fossils at risk of extinction. Discover more about our sustainable methods and the quality of our caviar.