In 1975, the Bulgari Jewels Heir Was Abducted During Rush Hour Traffic and Held for the Largest Ransom in History
In 1975, the Bulgari Jewels Heir Was Abducted During Rush Hour Traffic and Held for the Largest Ransom in History
Virginia ChamleeSat, February 28, 2026 at 1:00 AM UTC
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Italian jeweller Gianni BulgariCredit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty -
In 1975, the heir to the Bulgari fortune was abducted and held for ransom
The demand was the largest in history at the time
PEOPLE reported on the abduction when it took place and profiled Gianni Bulgari years later
Gianni Bulgari was living a life steeped in luxury. After his father's death in 1966, he became the head of his family's eponymous company — a luxury jeweler known for adorning the necks and ears and wrists of starlets like Elizabeth Taylor and Gina Lollobrigida.
Gianni, then 40 years old, was all too happy to be photographed alongside the screen sirens when he wasn't busy car-racing with his mentor Enzo Ferrari or flying his own plane.
But the grandeur took a turn in 1975 when Gianni, reading the newspaper in the back of his chauffeur-driven limousine, was abducted by masked gunmen during rush hour traffic on Corso d'Italia, one of Rome's busier thoroughfares. The gunmen forced the chauffeur out of the car, and then whisked Gianni away.
A few hours later came the demand to his family: a $16 million ransom — the largest in history at the time.
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Gianni and Gina LollobrigidaCredit: AP Photo
A 1975 PEOPLE article detailed "the cool, commando-like operation," which was one in a series of Italian kidnappings at the time (in the 12 months prior to Gianni's abduction, 40 others had been abducted).
The abductions had become such a threat that Gianni's brothers, Paolo and Nicola, had taken to carrying pistols. But Gianni himself was uninterested in living life armed.
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Thirty-one days later, Gianni was freed by his captors, with The New York Times reporting that he was found by his brothers "in a stolen Fiat parked in a dark alley less than 1,500 feet from his apartment in the Prioli district shortly after midnight."
When found, Gianni was reportedly "still drowsy from a strong dose of ether that his captors had forced him to sniff before freeing him" and "had been able to remove an adhesive tape over his mouth," the Times reported.
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Gianni in 2013Credit: Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty
Outlets at the time said the Bulgari family had indeed paid the large ransom, though later reports detailed that the amount given to the abductors was closer to $4 million.
But perhaps a silver lining to the ordeal, PEOPLE detailed in a 1981 profile of Gianni, was the press attention that came with it.
Though well known to Italians prior to the kidnapping, the Bulgari brand grew thereafter and in six years was grossing at least $50 million per year.
"You couldn't have bought that kind of publicity for four million," one of Gianni's friends told PEOPLE at the time, to which Gianni shrugged: "I have to admit it's probably true."
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