The family wrote Peter Nichols Italia Italia 1973 is the accredited masterpiece of Italian society over the centuries the

The family, wrote Peter Nichols (Italia, Italia, 1973) is “the accredited masterpiece of Italian society over the centuries, the bulwark, the natural unit, the provider of all that the state denies, the semi-sacred group, the avenger and the rewarder.”In more measured tones, The Economist in 1990 described the family as “the enduring unit of Italian society. He diversified into pasta sauce, biscuits, yoghurts, fruit juice, ice cream. While keeping his firm as family-centred as it had been in his father’s day, he transformed it into a modern and aggressively expansive dairy business. Springing from a region with one of the proudest culinary traditions in the country – chosen last month as the headquarters for the EU’s new Food Safety Agency – he turned the family concern into a symbol of Parma’s ability to meet the big world head on.Long Life milk and the Tetrapak were not invented in Italy, but Tanzi was sufficiently on his toes to become their Italian pioneer. Tanzi was a 22-year-old university student when his father, proprietor of a grocer’s shop in the village of Collecchio, near Parma, died suddenly in 1961. The fact that for years it remained afloat despite such debts was due, says America’s Securities and Exchange Commission, to “one of the largest and most brazen corporate frauds in history.”The Parmalat story was, for several decades, a fairy-tale of modern Italy. A long embrace, more tears, sad mutual assurances by the ex-King and Queen of Parma across the formica-topped desk that they were both just fine, no need to worry; then the grocer’s son turned global mogul turned disgraced bankrupt was left alone again with his thoughts.Last month, Mr Tanzi’s firm went bust.

Its debts are believed to be between €10bn and €13bn, making it the biggest Italian business failure in history. But Italy’s fallen “emperor of milk” was in no mood for such melancholy felicitations. He spent a lot of time crying, sources in the jail say, even out in the passage, in full view; inside his cell, he spent a lot of time on his knees, praying.
His wife Anita, with whom five days before he had returned from a mysterious “holiday” in South America, embarked on when his company was already in free fall, was permitted a New Year visit. In the cells around him, fellow prisoners popped little bottles of bubbly bought on the jail’s black market “Auguri”, “buon anno”, rang from cell to cell. He has a privileged cell in Number 3 division of Milan’s gloomy 19th century prison, San Vittore: plenty of shelf space to store his many books and papers.

Calisto Tanzi passed the New Year holiday in jail. Shares in the telecom equipment group have performed strongly over the past four sessions and market professionals tip this trend to continue into the new year.Although the company reported a hefty drop in sales in November, brokers reckon this position can quickly reverse as telecom companies start to spend again on capital equipment.Gooch & Housego rose 2p to 101.5p on talk that the optics specialist will soon unveil an earnings enhancing acquisition.Motion Media was 0.5p better to 12p on hopes that 2004 will be a year of significant orders for the group’s offering of videophones.. HSBC gained 10p to 888p as Sir Brian Moffat, the former Corus chairman who is currently deputy chairman at the banking giant, disclosed the purchase of 5,000 shares at 880p.Corin jumped 7p to 202.5p amid talk the medical devices group will soon unveil a tie-up with a US peer. Gossips also talked of strong trading at IT solutions group Morse, 1.5p higher at 144p.Among small caps, something of a buzz surrounded Telspec, 0.5p higher to 20.5p. The mobile phone retailer, which was one of the best-performing blue chips last year, is tipped do well again this year by a number of brokers including Commerzbank Securities.

Elsewhere, Reuters gained 6.25p to 241.25p, Hays put on 3p to 123p and Prudential added 9.75p to 482p. There was, however, some shorting of the index towards the close. Shorters reckon the stellar gains achieved by the FTSE 100 over the past two weeks, which have left it standing at a 17-month high, will come to a shuddering halt next week, when the majority of traders return to their desks after the Christmas break.Mm02 gained 2.5p to close at 79.5p, its highest level since early 2002. House of Fraser bucked the negative trend, to go 1.5p better to 94p, as some dealers reported “hot money” flowing into the stock.Those buying into HoF yesterday must be of the view that the company will not make it to the end of 2004 as an independent entity. After all its Christmas trading statement, due next week, is unlikely to amount to much given the turmoil in the sector at present.