Cantine Leonardo da Vinci — the Tuscan wine cooperative the state liquidated

Cantine Leonardo da Vinci was a wine cooperative founded in 1961 in Vinci, Tuscany — the birthplace of the Renaissance polymath whose name it carried. At its peak it produced about four million bottles a year from member vineyards across the Florentine hills, selling under labels that traded on the terroir of the area. It was a pillar of the local agricultural economy, converting grapes from hundreds of member growers into bottled wine for domestic and export markets.

By late 2025 the cooperative was structurally insolvent. Short-term debts had reached €13.4 million while current assets stood at only €5.5 million — a gap of nearly eight million euros. Net equity was already negative. The cooperative faced at least 11 injunction orders (decreti ingiuntivi) from creditors, plus other pending litigation. In October 2025 the Confederation of Italian Cooperatives, of which Cantine Leonardo da Vinci was a member, formally notified the authorities that the situation was urgent and required intervention.

On 11 February 2026 the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) issued a decree placing the cooperative into compulsory administrative liquidation — liquidazione coatta amministrativa. The cooperative's legal representative waived the right to present observations or counterarguments, a move that accelerated the process. The decree was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 26 February 2026. Dr. Luigi Zingone, a liquidator already handling the Terre d'Oltrepò case, was appointed commissioner.

The liquidation ended 65 years of operation. The cooperative's ordinary governance bodies ceased immediately, and full management passed to the liquidator, who was tasked with inventorying assets, verifying creditor claims, and distributing proceeds according to legal priorities. The fate of the member grape suppliers and the continuity of production were left uncertain.