In Scorzè is the headquarters of Cru Caviar, an excellence of Made in Italy, led for three generations by the Bettinazzi family, a leader in the aquaculture sector and the first Beluga producer in Italy, the second largest caviar producer in the world, after China.

In 2023, on the occasion of the company’s 50th anniversary, the family decided to create a truly unique experience, which combines the thrill of diving with a fish that resembles sharks in body and fins (although sturgeons are very tame) with the charm of visiting a protected oasis where various birds reproduce, including storks that fly in flocks over the Cru Caviar production site.

We created the Experiences to let everyone visit this uncontaminated corner of the world and give them the chance to learn more about the sturgeon, a wonderful animal at risk of extinction.

(Domenico Meduri, MD)

The Experiences are held in the Cru Caviar farms inside the Mincio River Park, in the province of Mantua, a few kilometers from the border with Veneto and the famous Valeggio sul Mincio. Here, an ecosystem has been created that respects biodiversity where sturgeons live undisturbed and protected from the risk of extinction (all Cru Caviar caviar selections have the CITES certification – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) in tanks that use surface water, in order to limit the exploitation of water reserves.

The Bettinazzi family began breeding sturgeons in the 1980s, reviving a tradition that has its roots in the history of the area, as the chronicles of the Gonzaga family, lords of Mantua since 1300, remind us, who loved to offer this fish during their sumptuous banquets.

In over 50 years of activity, the Bettinazzi family has continuously invested in excellence, giving life to a product, handcrafted, of absolute quality also thanks to 2 characteristics: the delicate art of salting with the Malossol technique and the distribution just of the caviar that passes strict control criteria of freshness, taste, color and size.

The Cru Caviar Experience, conducted by Giacomo Valenti, the Caviar Experience manager, with great passion and experience, begins right inside the natural park, where, after putting on a comfortable rubber suit, you get into the fresh waters together with the sturgeons, literally “caressing” a fascinating animal, still unknown to most, that has lived on earth for 250 million years.

There are many reasons for the value of sturgeon eggs – the word Caviar derives, in fact, from Persian and Greek and means “fish eggs” – including the long life cycle of this animal, which begins to produce them after at least 20 years of life, and the large quantity of vitamins, proteins, minerals, and essential fatty acids contained that help the cardiovascular system and skin hydration and nourishment.

After the visit to the park, the experience continues with a guided tasting of Cru Caviar products, during which you can choose which type of caviar to taste – among the varieties of Beluga Sturgeon and Beluga Imperial from Ladano sturgeon, the Special Reserve and the Royal from White sturgeon eggs, the Imperial and the Classic from Siberian sturgeon eggs, the Asetra from Danubian sturgeon – and which bubbles to pair it with.