On 1 October 2026, Corriere della Sera reported, and Sky TG24 and Il Giorno followed, that a court in Busto Arsizio, near Varese, had ordered a “double judicial sequestration” in the estate of Maurizio Zamparini. Zamparini, who founded the Mercatone Zeta furniture chain and once owned the Venezia and Palermo football clubs, died in February 2022, aged 80. The order is meant to stop assets being moved while his heirs’ dispute runs its course.
The case is a window into a rule that surprises many families with Italian ties. In Italy, close relatives are entitled to a minimum share of an estate, and gifts made during life are added back when that share is calculated.
The Zamparini case, in court facts only
According to Sky TG24, Judge Annarita D’Elia granted precautionary requests from both sides, and the sequestration covers assets the parties identified. There are two wills, dated 31 August and 27 September 2020. Four children from Zamparini’s first marriage contest the first; his widow relies on the second.
Each side wants a different pool of assets counted:
- the children ask the court to protect at least €37 million of assets linked to the widow;
- the widow wants about €75 million of lifetime gifts and “intestazioni fiduciarie” (assets held in another’s name under a fiduciary arrangement) made to the children brought into the estate.
So far about €9 million has been inventoried; press reports say the total could reach €250 million. These are claims and estimates, not court findings.
Who is protected: the “legittima”
Under article 536 of the Civil Code, the spouse, the children and, in some cases, the ascendants (parents and grandparents) are “legittimari”, or forced heirs. A will cannot cut their share below a minimum, the legittima (reserved share). Only the rest, the “disponibile” (available portion), can go to anyone.
The reserved shares depend on who survives (articles 537 and 542):
- one child, no spouse: the child is reserved half;
- two or more children, no spouse: two-thirds, split equally;
- a spouse and one child: one-third each;
- a spouse and two or more children: half for the children together, a quarter for the spouse.
Step one: adding gifts back
Article 556 sets the calculation, known as “riunione fittizia” (notional reunion). Take what the deceased owned at death, deduct debts, then add back, on paper, every gift made during life. The assets do not physically return; it is an accounting step. Gifts are valued as at death, not when they were made, and every form of liberality counts: direct, indirect or disguised, to family or to strangers. In order no. 14193 of 5 May 2022, the Court of Cassation confirmed that all gifts enter this calculation.
A simple example: a parent gives a child shares worth €1 million in 2010; they are worth €4 million when the parent dies, leaving €2 million net. The reserved shares are worked out on €6 million, not €2 million or €3 million.
Step two: “collazione” among co-heirs
Article 737 adds a second rule for dividing the estate. Children, their descendants and the spouse who inherit must bring into the division what they received from the deceased as gifts, directly or indirectly. The donor can exempt them, but only within the disponibile. As the commentary on Brocardi.it explains, riunione fittizia protects reserved shares; collazione keeps co-heirs equal by treating gifts as advances on the inheritance.
How a reserved share is enforced
A forced heir who gets too little can bring an “azione di riduzione” (reduction claim). Only forced heirs and their successors can bring it, and they cannot waive it while the donor is alive (article 557). Provisions in the will are cut first; gifts follow, starting with the most recent (articles 555 and 559).
The law changed recently. Law no. 182/2025, in force since 18 December 2025, rewrote article 563: a reduction no longer undoes a sale of donated property to a third party; the donee owes money instead. If the donee cannot pay, someone who received the property free must pay up to the benefit received, according to the amended text and commentary on Brocardi.it. Heirs in older estates had six months, to about 18 June 2026, to keep the old rules by registering a claim or an opposition.
Trusts and fiduciary holdings
Trusts do not escape the rules either. In order no. 5073 of 17 February 2023, the Court of Cassation treated a family trust, set up during life with effects after death, as an indirect gift. A forced heir must challenge it with a reduction claim, against the trustee while it still holds the assets or against the beneficiaries once they receive them. How to value trust assets is still unsettled.
Because indirect and disguised gifts count, a forced heir can argue that assets a parent paid for but registered, directly or through a fiduciary, in someone else’s name were really gifts. That, in substance, is what the widow’s side argues in the Zamparini case. Whether such claims succeed depends on evidence.
What it means for families planning gifts
Italian law offers one tool built for business succession: the “patto di famiglia” (family pact), in the Civil Code since 2006. With the spouse and all would-be forced heirs taking part, a business or shareholding goes to one or more chosen descendants, who pay the others the value of their reserved shares. Under article 768-quater, what is received is not subject to collazione or reduction. A family holding company can keep a business in one block, as the Del Vecchio heirs’ Delfin shows, but its shares, given or inherited, still count toward reserved shares (see Holding Structures in Plain English).
A fair caveat
The Zamparini reports all rest on Corriere della Sera’s story, and the amounts are claims. The sequestration is a precaution, not a judgment. Our summary of the law is general; cross-border estates may fall under another country’s law.
Five lessons to take away
- A gift is not the end of the story. In Italy it comes back into the calculation at death.
- Growth after the gift counts. Gifts are valued at death, not when made.
- The form matters less than the substance. Indirect gifts, trusts and fiduciary holdings can all be counted.
- Exemptions have limits. Excusing a child from collazione works only within the disponibile.
- Records prevent lawsuits. A gap between the inventory and the heirs’ estimates ends up in court.
Questions to bring to your advisors
Which country’s succession law would govern our estate? Who are our forced heirs, and which lifetime gifts, trust transfers or fiduciary holdings would be added back, at what value? Would a family pact suit our business? These are questions to bring to your lawyers and tax advisors, not advice.
