As of 2015, Caltagirone was ranked number #894 on the 2015 Forbes billionaire list and #19 in Italy, with an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion.

With the inherited capital, the brothers started the company together with their cousin Gaetano Caltagirone, an architect already working as a manufacturer.

In 1992, he took over Cementir S.p.A., the fourth biggest Italian company in the cement industry, acquired by IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale) through a public auction.

In a few years, under the guidance of his son Francesco Caltagirone Jr., Cementir S.p.A. became a multinational company with a significant presence in Scandinavia, Turkey and the Far East.

[7] He is married to Luisa Farinon (the sister of former TV presenter Gabriella) and has three children: Francesco Jr., Alessandro and Azzurra,[8] the ex-wife of the Italian politician Pier Ferdinando Casini.