Claudio Castiglioni, legendary Italian motorcycle entrepreneur and current head of MV Agusta passed away earlier today. Castiglioni’s passion for motorcycles drove him as much, or more, than the search for profits. This created obstacles for his businesses, but also resulted in some of the most beautiful and functional high performance motorcycles ever manufactured. Here is the press release we received from MV Agusta .
Claudio Castiglioni, 64 years old and President of MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. passed away this morning in Varese, Italy after a courageous battle against an illness.
The man who personally elevated the Italian motorcycle industry to its current role as world leader and the businessman who excelled with MV Agusta, Cagiva, Ducati and Husqvarna brands has left us.
After his experience in the family business’s specializing in metalworking and manufacturing, in 1978 Castiglioni founded the company Cagiva which continually developed new and innovative motorcycles that have influenced the direction of the Italian and world motorcycle markets through the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Intuitive, tenacious, and a true visionary: these qualities drove Claudio Castiglioni to purchase the historic brands like Ducati, Husqvarna and MV Agusta. Coupled with his vision, diligence, hard work and financial investment these brands have once again become the protagonist of the two wheeled market.
Claudio Castiglioni has given us some of the most important motorcycles ever built, personifying performance, elegance and style: Cagiva Elefant and Mito, Ducati 916 and Monster as well as the MV Agusta F4 and Brutale. Finally, the President crafted the latest jewels in every detail, a testament to his insatiable passion for motorcycles: the MV Agusta F3 and Brutale 675.
Racing has always been one of his greatest passions, and his forays into competition have resulted in success at every level of world championship racing. With Cagiva came the titles of World Motocross Champion as well as the triumphs in the most enduring desert race, the Paris-Dakar. Also with Cagiva were the numerous successes in the 500 GP class. Ducati, under his guidance, dominated entire seasons of the World Superbike Championship thanks to models such as the 851 and 916. Finally, Husqvarna acquired a number of World Championships in Enduro, Motocross and Supermotard.
At the very center of his personal and professional history there is MV Agusta, to which he dedicated over 15 years creating motorcycles which have come to be considered the world wide icon for style and exclusivity as well as representing excellence Made in Italy. With the MV Agusta motorcycles, nothing was ever left to chance, the smallest details were reviewed and revised hundreds of times in order to create motorcycles that are simply unique, personifying perfection. Behind every detail, there are the ideas, heart and soul of Claudio Castiglioni.
For the past year, the President has left the guidance of MV Agusta to his son Giovanni, who has been by his side during many of the battles that have formed the story of the manufacture in Varese. These challenges, day after day, constructed and invisible fabric that was so well woven by this truly unique person and businessman. Giovanni, with the same passion and tenacity as his father, from this day forth will continue to create what Claudio Castiglioni described as “the most beautiful motorcycles in the world”.
The funeral will take place Friday August 19th at 14:00 in the Church of the Brunella in via Crispi, Varese
(Italy).
It’s great that he resurrected 2 dying or dead brands: Ducati and MV Agusta. With Ducati, they kept their Desmo engine design and flourished the brand. With MV, they kept the 4 cylinder engines they were known for and also flourished the brand. Even though I can’t afford neither, we must appreciated his work to keep these famous brand still alive for the world to see.
Mr. CC, the best of the best always will be alive in his creations.
He will be missed, never replaced.His passion stirred my passions. I hope he’s surrounded by his creations and people that loved them. Godspeed Claudio.
Respect. Great passion and designs.
RIP Mr. C.C.
Seems that one whole era is passing… one man’s gone, soon will be more. What will come next? Will there be any motorcycles in future?
I had the pleasure of owning one of Mr. Castiglioni’s beautiful creations, the
1990 Ducati 851. His soul is in these bikes, as well as in the early MVs.
He made the world a little nicer place for us. Every time I hear one of your
bikes speaking to me at 10,000 rpm I will thank you.
R.I.P Mr. Castiglioni ~
RIP Mr. Castiglioni. You’ve given me a lot of joy with your designs and with MV performance.
Let’s not forget this man’s business sense. He pulled off one of the greatest business deals of all time, in his dealings with with Harley Davidson. Sell a company for millions, let the buyer invest millions more in the business, and then buy back the company for a buck.
And he was so good he did it twice!
It would be quite an accolade to have just one of his creations to your credit. That is a beautiful stable of machinery he has helped create! He has left quite a legacy for us all.
God Speed Mr. Castiglioni.
I bet his blood was red white and green and if you could have heard his heart it would have sounded like an MV500 triple at the TT with Ago chasing Hailwood. A true motorcycle enthusiast, biking is poorer for his passing.