500 Years of Craft, One Family Legacy: Beretta Holding's Global Expansion

It's early morning in the Lombardy countryside, and the sun is just starting to peek out behind the mountaintops. A hunter is slowly walking through the brush with his dog following closely behind. The company that made his gun is the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world, and has been led by the Beretta family for 15 generations. But since 1995, the company has been a group encompassing everything from firearms and optics, to apparel and ammunition. From its origins as a small forge to a multinational group with over 50 companies and 20 brands, Beretta's story is one of innovation, war, peace, the rise and fall of nations, industrial revolution, craftsmanship, and an unwavering commitment to quality.

• Five centuries of history: The company counts its official founding year as 1526, when the first generation of the Beretta family received an order from the Republic of Venice.

• Fifteen generations: Beretta has been led and owned by the same family for five centuries, with philosophy and strategy being passed down through the generations.

• Balancing heritage with innovation: Ever since the first generations, the family has made a conscious decision to respect the Beretta legacy, while never shying away from innovation.

• Civilian and military: For centuries the company has supplied both civilian and military customers, refusing to become overdependent on either.

• Beretta Holding: The company restructured in 1995 and established a holding company as the parent for the original brand and all subsidiaries, enabling a well-planned acquisition spree.

• Current operations: Beretta Holding is a modern industrial group, active in business segments that span manufacturing, distribution, and services & experiences.

Our story starts in the Val Trompia valley in Lombardy, roughly 90 minutes outside Milan, Italy. It was here that Bartolomeo Beretta, born in 1490, would receive an order that the company counts as its founding moment. In the early 1500s, it was famous all over the Italian peninsula for its iron mines, but more pertinent to our story, its gunmaking forges.

Bartolomeo followed the tradition of artisans from his home region, and with time became a maestro di canne (master gun-barrel maker), plying his trade out of a forge in the village of Gardone Val Trompia. Before we continue, we need to provide some context of the region in the 1500s. Bartolomeo Beretta lived more than 300 years before the founding of modern-day Italy, which at the time was a patchwork of kingdoms, city-states, and regional powers.

The Val Trompia valley is in the region of Brescia, which was under the control of the Republic of Venice. So when the Venetian Arsenal needed firearms, it had a supplier very close at hand. In 1526, Bartolomeo Beretta received 296 ducats from the Republic of Venice for a shipment of 185 arquebus (a type of musket) barrels. Beretta's forge focused on barrels, and barrels alone, and it would take centuries until the company expanded into producing entire firearms. The invoice for the first order still exists and is preserved in the Venice city archives.

It's highly likely that Bartolomeo wasn't the first in the family to operate the forge, but the sale of the musket barrels to Venice acts as the official founding moment of the company. This, in turn, makes Beretta the oldest still-operating firearms maker in the world, and one of the world's oldest industrial manufacturers.

But perhaps more impressively, Beretta is still owned and operated by the family, now on its 15th generation.

By all accounts, the Venetian Arsenal was more than satisfied with the barrels it received from Bartolomeo Beretta's forge in Gardone Val Trompia. That first order in 1526 was the beginning of a long-standing relationship between one of Europe's most powerful maritime republics and a small, family-run enterprise in a Lombardian valley.

The first half of the 16th century was marked by almost constant conflict on both the Italian peninsula and across Europe more broadly. While we could spend a couple of paragraphs here talking about the numerous wars and conflicts that were a constant backdrop to daily life at the time, that's not what we're here to do. So, long story short: Venice, as one of the leading centers of international commerce, found itself constantly in, recovering from, or planning a new battle.

In the decades that followed the first order, the Venetian Arsenal would return to Beretta's forge again and again to buy barrels for everything from muskets to cannons. As a result, the Venetian government acted as a near-constant source of demand for arms. When Bartolomeo Beretta died, his son Jacopo, who had long been schooled in the craft of barrelmaking, inherited the forge. But equally importantly, he also carried the Beretta name, and with it inherited a reputation – one that carried weight with both the Venetian Arsenal and regional patrons. He also carried on his father's legacy and belief that quality always came first.

Jacopo continued to produce barrels and possibly began to expand the range of components offered by the forge. Some records suggest that during his tenure, the workshop began incorporating more standardized dimensions for barrels and increased output. Whether this was in response to higher Venetian demand or a reflection of technological advancement is unclear. What is clear is that the Beretta forge was slowly but surely starting to evolve into a serious production facility.

Jacopo's son, Giovannino, carried the torch into the next century. While little is known about his personal life, we do know that under his watch, the business continued to broaden its operations. By this point (early to mid-1600s), Gardone Val Trompia had become one of the most important centers of arms manufacturing in Europe. Although many of the valley's gunsmiths were complete firearms manufacturers, Beretta continued to focus on producing the best possible barrels.

At the same time that Beretta was expanding its operations, European warfare was changing. The Thirty Years' War, one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, devastated large swathes of Germany and Central Europe but also transformed military technology. The use of firearms became more widespread, and demand for reliable small arms surged. For suppliers like Beretta, the war represented both a logistical challenge and a massive commercial opportunity.

It's during this period that we begin to see the emergence of a core Beretta value: the relentless prioritization of quality, even in the face of higher demand. Rather than flood the market with low-grade weapons, the Berettas focused on incremental improvements, better finishing, tighter tolerances, and standardization of parts. In an era when quality control was often an afterthought, Beretta turned it into a differentiator. Although that strategy may have limited short-term profits, it came second to its commitment to gaining long-term trust.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the company had effectively evolved from a simple family workshop to a regional industrial manufacturer, albeit in the pre-industrial sense. It remained small by today's standards, perhaps employing a dozen craftsmen at most, but its reputation continued to grow.

As the 1700s progressed, Europe's geopolitical landscape remained unstable as the major (and minor) powers at the time continued to go to war against each other. Wars of succession, colonial conflicts, and shifting alliances ensured that arms manufacturers had plenty to do. Beretta, by now well-accustomed to this rhythm, continued to grow.

We have got five centuries of history to discuss, and there is simply far too much to cover everything in detail, especially when talking about events that transpired hundreds of years ago. But we're about to enter the age where the sources become clearer and more plentiful, and we can see the first outlines of the modern Beretta take shape.

The late 18th century brought seismic change. In 1797, a certain Frenchman by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte and his army swept across Northern Italy, claiming the Val Trompia valley and greater Lombardy for his new empire. At the same time, the Beretta family's forges were working overtime. For about 15 years around 1800, the family business supplied barrels to a large firearms factory in nearby Brescia.

Remember, production at the family forge in Gardone Val Trompia was still focused solely on gun barrels at this time. But the moment in time when Beretta transitions from supplying components to becoming a fully-fledged gun manufacturer is only a couple of decades away.

With Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and his subsequent abdication and exile on St. Helena, the wars which bear his name were at an end. Lombardy-Venetia was incorporated into the Austrian Empire, and with that, the Beretta family now had a new state arsenal which was in need of musket and cannon barrels.

So, the Beretta family continued to manufacture and deliver as it had always done. Its already stellar reputation had only improved over the latest decades, with each member of the family carrying on the legacy of incremental improvements and incorporating new technological breakthroughs. The Beretta family had by that point been manufacturing gun barrels for over 300 years, without compromising on Bartolomeo's philosophy of quality above everything.

By now, a member of the family with the name Pietro Antonio Beretta was at the helm. In 1832, he formally adopted the name Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta for the company, symbolically ushering in the pre-modern era of the company. While Pietro gave the company the name it still bears to this day, it was his son Giuseppe Antonio who would write the first paragraphs of the modern chapters of the company.

Giuseppe Antonio (representing the 12th generation of leadership) took over in 1850 following his father's passing, and it was during his tenure that Beretta began producing entire guns, not just barrels and components.

During these decades, the entire arms manufacturing industry was going through a massive overhaul as a direct result of the Industrial Revolution. New manufacturing techniques and machines meant that production could ramp up significantly, and in order not to fall behind the competition, Beretta had to evolve with the times. In doing this, it had to navigate something which the modern company still faces: a balancing act between tradition and change.

Under Giuseppe Antonio Beretta's leadership, the company expanded its capabilities and moved ever closer to becoming a vertically integrated manufacturer of firearms. While this might sound straightforward enough, moving from producing components to entire guns was a massive overhaul for the company as a whole. It could've easily overextended or failed to navigate the shift as effectively as it did.

Throughout the transformation and expansion, quality remained the sole focus for Giuseppe Antonio. By this point, the Beretta name had been synonymous with skilled craftsmanship for centuries, and keeping the reputation of the company untarnished was of the utmost importance. However, Giuseppe Antonio also ushered in another change which in the long term would prove just as revolutionary as the decision to start producing complete firearms: diversifying into civilian markets.

Beretta had long thrived on various military contracts, but Giuseppe Antonio didn't want the company's prosperity to hang in the balance of whether or not a war would break out and inflate demand. Giuseppe Antonio had not pulled this idea out of thin air. There was a massive surge in interest in hunting and sport shooting in the 1850s and 1860s across Europe, and just like when a state arsenal was in need of equipment of the highest caliber, Beretta would be there to meet the demand.

As you may already have guessed, Beretta wouldn't start mass-producing guns in order to grow as quickly as possible. Instead, it focused on crafting fine, elegant guns aimed towards aristocrats and serious sport shooters. By 1860, it was producing a few hundred of these every year, but word was spreading fast. Soon, Beretta was a name associated with quality and stellar performance not only in military circles, but among civilians as well.

One of Beretta's earliest firearms.

One of Beretta's earliest firearms.

Obsessing over quality paid off. Over the next two decades, production skyrocketed to roughly 8,000 guns annually by 1880. Production capabilities had improved dramatically, and the number of employees was steadily increasing to support the growth. However, the diversification of the company's operations didn't stop there, as Beretta acted as an Italian distributor of other brands such as Wetterly, Mannlicher, British revolvers, Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and numerous others. Since Beretta didn't make all types of firearms, the distribution agreements made sure that a domestic customer could get exactly what they wanted.

Beretta never abandoned its military heritage, but Giuseppe simply refused to let the company remain overdependent on large governmental contracts. We're going to get into Beretta's modern split of customers later on, but in the meantime we can say that he made a very good decision for the future of the company.

After the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, and the unification was completed in 1870, Beretta secured contracts to supply the Italian Army. Throughout the late 1800s, the focus remained split on civilian and military production, but Beretta was expanding its scope far outside the newly established borders of Italy.

The influx of international clients visiting the factory led Giuseppe Antonio Beretta to establish the “Beretta Hotel” in Gardone Val Trompia. Foreign dignitaries and Beretta enthusiasts alike were treated to Italian hospitality while being shown the manufacturing operations, further reinforcing its premium branding. The result? An ever-improving reputation. Behind these successes was a relentless drive to modernize while honoring the heritage and craftsmanship that made Beretta special.

In practice, this meant preserving centuries-old skills and the legacy of craftsmanship, while simultaneously investing in the latest and most innovative production methods. Beretta's master engravers and gunsmiths continued to polish and chisel fine firearms by hand, while the company consistently plowed profits into modern machinery and factory improvements.

By the end of the 1800s, Beretta had been in operation for almost 400 years and had transformed from a single forge in the Lombardian countryside to a proto-industrial manufacturer, led by the same family and still operating by the values of the founder.

The dawn of the 20th century saw more sweeping changes for the company. Pietro Beretta (who shared his first name with his grandfather), born in 1870, took charge after Giuseppe Antonio's death in 1903. Being the next member of the family to take the reins, he was determined to propel the company into the future, without sacrificing the quality and legacy that made Beretta what it was.

When Pietro took over, the company had about 130 employees and a single factory. While the company was still considered one of the most skilled gunmakers in Europe, Pietro made the assessment that Beretta was in danger of falling behind its competitors if it didn't continue the modernization set in motion by his father.

So, what to do? Well, build a hydroelectric plant on the river adjacent to the factory of course. In a time when most of its competitors relied on local grids or steam, Beretta was completely self-sustaining in terms of power.

Pietro had a vision of bringing the company well and truly into the modern age. He introduced modern manufacturing methods, bringing in state-of-the-art machinery and securing numerous patents for firearm mechanisms, positioning the Beretta factory as one of the most modern firearms production facilities of its time.

He also fostered an internal culture of innovation and technological advancement, carrying on the work of his ancestors. At the same time, he never lost or compromised the connection with the local community and workers, and also continued to drive the legacy of craftsmanship and tradition at Beretta.

But the most intense period of Beretta's history up to this point is just around the corner. We've arrived in 1914, and the Archduke of Austria-Hungary is about to be assassinated.

After Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed in Sarajevo, and Europe had been engulfed in a war which the continent had never previously seen the like of, Italy stayed neutral. But when it eventually joined all of Europe's major powers in the trenches, Beretta was ready.

Led by the inventive engineer by the name of Tullio Marengoni, the company developed new firearms tailored to the existing ammunition supplies of the Italian army, and eventually developed one of the world's first true submachine guns. Beretta's Model 1915 semi-automatic pistol acted as a service sidearm for Italian troops, and by the end of the war, the factory in Gardone Val Trompia was churning these out by the thousands. By 1917, Beretta's workforce had swelled to around 1000 workers, more than double the number it had before the war.

Although peace had finally come, Beretta continued to expand its operations. In the late 1920s, Beretta acquired a smaller arms factory, Fabbrica d'Armi Lario near Como, and transferred its machinery to Gardone to centralize operations. When World War II erupted, Beretta again pivoted to full war production. The company supplied the Italian Army with rifles, pistols, and submachine guns, among other arms.

After Italy's surrender in 1943, the Germans who still controlled Lombardy seized the Beretta factory and at gunpoint forced it to keep manufacturing weapons for the Nazi war effort. As the allies made their way into Northern Italy and German forces retreated, Nazi troops took Pietro Beretta (then in his 70s) hostage to ensure the factory's compliance.

Thankfully, Pietro Beretta would survive the war. The patriarch was eventually freed from his captivity by a group of Italian partisans in the last months of the war, and could return to a factory which was free from Nazi control, but had been bombed and nearly completely destroyed. Beretta would have to rebuild, and need to adapt itself to new realities once again.

With Italy under arms restrictions, the company turned to refurbishing allied equipment and developing new products for export. It also briefly dabbled in non-firearm industries: for a time after the war, Beretta partnered in making a small automobile (the Beretta-Benelli-Castelbarco) and even owned a motorcycle manufacturer called MI-VAL. Around the same period, in 1953, the company adopted its now-famous “Tre Frecce” logo, which is still used on Beretta firearms and apparel.

Pietro Beretta passed away in 1957, marking the end of an era. He had led the company through highly uncertain times and had overseen its evolution into a modern, industrial manufacturer. The control of the company he had been at the helm of for over 50 years transitioned to his sons, Giuseppe (who became chairman) and Carlo Beretta (who became CEO). In the 1960s, Giuseppe and Carlo initiated a drive for international expansion. They established Beretta distributorships across Europe, looking to grow their civilian market share in new countries.

Beretta's ever-improving reputation had only grown in the decades after the war, and by now, thousands of hunters and competitive shooters across the world had a Beretta shotgun at the top of their wishlist. Beretta had experimented outside of Europe previously, but Pier Giuseppe and Carlo's eyes were transfixed on the largest firearms market in the world.

By the late 1970s, Ugo Gussalli Beretta, the next generation and deeply engaged in the day-to-day operations, set his sights on the United States. The U.S. was two things in the eyes of Beretta: the world's largest civilian firearms market, and simultaneously, a country poised to update its military equipment. In 1977, Ugo made a significant investment by establishing Beretta USA in Accokeek, Maryland, by acquiring a dormant firearms plant. This acquisition gave Beretta a manufacturing facility on American soil, a requirement for an arms company that might be interested in pursuing contracts with the U.S. government.

In the early 1980s, the U.S. Armed Forces were looking to replace the Colt M1911 pistol with a modern sidearm. Back in Italy, Beretta engineers had already developed and introduced the company's new flagship pistol: the 92F. The firearm was launched in 1975, and when the U.S. initiated a procurement process for its new service pistol, Beretta entered the 92F into the competition.

After extensive trials, it won the contract. Beretta was going to deliver 500,000 units of the pistol, which had just received the designation “M9”.

The M9.

The M9.

The win was the direct result of wise investment and strategic initiatives. The company had started developing its design well ahead of the competition, giving engineers time to perfect it. By the time of the trials, the Beretta 92F was a mature, thoroughly tested product, while some rivals were scrambling with newer designs.

Moreover, Beretta's forward-thinking adoption of advanced manufacturing processes in the 1970s-80s paid off in cost-efficiency. In the final selection, Beretta famously underbid its competitors, offering the U.S. a world-class pistol at a decisively lower cost than proposed by others. This combination of quality and affordability, along with the pistol's compliance with NATO standards, sealed the win for Beretta.

The victory was a watershed moment for Beretta, and almost overnight, it became a household name in the incredibly valuable American market. Police departments put in orders, heroes in Hollywood movies had M9s in their hands, and civilian enthusiasts were picking up Berettas despite a premium price point. By the early 1990s, Beretta was a storied European gunmaker with an unmatched history that had just managed to establish itself in the most lucrative firearms market in the world.

But the strategy of not becoming overdependent on military contracts continued. Instead of winding down or shifting focus away from the civilian markets, Beretta leveraged its newfound fame to extend the brand into lifestyle products. In 1988, it launched the upscale Beretta Sport clothing and accessories line, aimed towards sport shooters and outdoorsmen.

Giuseppe Beretta passed away in 1993. He had been the CEO for what had been one of the most transformative periods in the then roughly 470-year-long history of the company. Ugo Gussalli Beretta had been acting as the managing director since 1981, deeply engaged in the day-to-day operations.

He took over as CEO after the death of Giuseppe, and under his leadership, Beretta saw phenomenal growth in the U.S. market, with sales across civilians and law enforcement increasing roughly 30% annually. An interesting side-note, Ugo Gussali Beretta holds the title of “Cavaliere” (knight in Italian), similar to the title “Sir” or “Dame” in the UK, for services to his country.

By the mid-1990s, Beretta was a truly international enterprise – still owned and operated by the family.

We've arrived in 1995, and with that, we're entering into a new era for Beretta. After nearly half a millennium of operating as a single business, the mid-1990s would see the company evolve with the creation of Beretta Holding. In the wake of the contract for 500,000 M9 pistols, Beretta found itself financially stronger and more ambitious than ever. Pietro Gussalli Beretta, who by this point was deeply involved in the business, began contemplating expansion beyond just organic growth.

However, to acquire other companies and manage an enterprise with several brands under its umbrella, the old structure needed an overhaul. The company had the funds and the ambition to start making impactful acquisitions, but perhaps unsurprisingly, needed some streamlining in order to get ready for what was going to be a transformative change in how it operated.

In 1995, Beretta Holding S.A. was established under the leadership of Pietro Gussalli Beretta, who became President and CEO. His brother, Franco Gussalli Beretta, was appointed Executive Vice President and co-CEO.

By placing all assets under one corporate umbrella, it opened the door for the next phase of Beretta's growth story.

Beretta Holding became the parent entity, consolidating its various investments. The original Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta, which is still headquartered in Gardone Val Trompia, Italy, remains under the leadership of Franco Gussalli Beretta, who now has been serving as President and CEO since 2015. Continuing the family's centuries-old legacy, his leadership has been defined by a strong focus on technological modernization and artisanal excellence, blending innovation with tradition to guide Beretta into a new era.

Once Beretta Holding was in place, offices had been set up in Luxembourg, documents had been signed, and strategy meetings had been held, the family wasted no time in expanding their empire. The group owned Benelli Armi, an Italian maker of high-end shotguns for hunters, sport, and military, since 1983. But the late 1990s and the 2000s saw a flurry of activity, which began transforming Beretta from a single-brand gun manufacturer into a diversified arms and outdoor products group.

The group did not waste time. In 1996, it acquired the manufacturing company Meccanica del Sarca and Beretta Benelli Iberica, which focuses on manufacturing and distribution. That same year, it also acquired French-based Humbert, which today is one of Beretta Holding’s largest distributors. But these deals were in many ways just the warmup. That same year, Beretta Holding made a landmark international acquisition: it purchased the legendary Finnish manufacturer Sako.

Sako is famous for its high-quality hunting rifles and outdoor gear, but perhaps most importantly, it has a longstanding and deep collaboration with the Finnish armed forces, supplying military rifles and ammunition. On paper, it would be difficult to find a more suitable fit for Beretta Holding.

It gave the company a manufacturing base in hunting-crazed Scandinavia and expanded its product line to include bolt-action rifles. But it also gave it a subsidiary that fit its strategy. Sako is a company that produces world-class civilian and military products, without being over-reliant on either.

The acquisition spree was far from over, and Beretta Holding was looking to diversify further. In 2002, it acquired the American company Burris Optics, which produces scopes, sights, and binoculars. The deal was Beretta Holding's entry into the optics business, adding another product category to its portfolio. In 2008, the group added Steiner-Optik, a German optics manufacturer.

Steiner is especially known for their marine and military binoculars, designed for extreme maritime conditions. Being able to produce state-of-the-art optics that can handle fog, salt, spray, and glare, while being in constant motion, is no easy feat. People who depend on these types of equipment with their lives, are very quickly going to find an alternative if they don't find the products to be the best of the best. Again, Beretta Holding hadn't just acquired any company – it had acquired a brand obsessed with quality.

With Burris and Steiner, Beretta Holding now owned two of the most prestigious and respected brands in optics, not only broadening its product catalog but also offering synergies within the group itself.

It could now leverage its global, growing distribution network across both segments. The group also expanded into specialized ammunition and components through a number of smaller deals, while simultaneously investing in manufacturing technology and R&D across the board to keep all these arms makers at the cutting edge.

Beretta Holding continued to manufacture weapons at wildly different price points, with some guns selling for tens of thousands of dollars. But while all the acquisitions before 2021 had been focusing on quality products, it had now set its sights on the luxury segment of the market.

In 2021, it acquired Holland & Holland, an incredibly prestigious British gunmaker and sporting brand. Founded in 1835 and holder of two royal warrants, it's famous for bespoke shotguns, rifles, and traditional British country clothing. While Beretta had sold clothing for a long time, the acquisition of H&H brought a new level of luxury, expanding the group's apparel and lifestyle segment.

A hand-engraved shotgun by Holland & Holland.

A hand-engraved shotgun by Holland & Holland.

While the H&H acquisition was a nice feather in the cap, what followed in 2022 was even more impactful. Beretta Holding made its largest acquisition in RUAG Ammotec, the ammunition manufacturing arm of Swiss-based RUAG. The company included brands like RWS, Geco, Rottweil, and Norma, and is Europe's largest ammunition manufacturer.

Beretta Holding had massively increased its presence in the ammunition business, and CEO Pietro Gussalli Beretta described it as the key missing piece of the puzzle for the group. All of its customer groups, whether it be sport shooters, hunters, military, or police, could now find everything they needed within the portfolio of Beretta Holding.

Visualizing Beretta Holding's growth.

Visualizing Beretta Holding's growth.

Maybe you've never spent much time thinking about what the inside of an ammunition factory looks like, and if we're being completely honest, neither had we before we started the work on this article. But when Beretta Holding invited us to come visit the Norma factory (a part of Ammotec), we were more than happy to accept. While the writer of this article stayed in Stockholm to do research, we sent a team to Åmotsfors, a small town nestled by a lake in the forests and hills of Sweden's Värmland region.

Peter Westberg will tell all about it in the following section, offering an exclusive view into the inner workings of one of Beretta Holding's most recent acquisitions.

We arrived at Norma just after one o'clock, on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon. The building stood quiet and self-assured at the edge of Åmotfors, a small Swedish town wrapped in forest and silence. A sales rep greeted us in the lobby, offering coffee and a brisk history lesson. Norma, he said, was likely founded in 1902, though the truth may reach further back, buried under time and gunmetal.

It's the biggest employer in town: 230 workers in a place of roughly 1400. Inside the factory, 115 different calibers are produced, destined for hunters, police, and the military. Forty-two countries receive Norma ammunition. Trust, as we'd learn, is not taken lightly.

A wall of portraits at Norma, featuring Dr. Pietro Gussalli Beretta.

A wall of portraits at Norma, featuring Dr. Pietro Gussalli Beretta.

The walls carried the weight of history – portraits of long-retired craftsmen, dusty paintings, and deer heads hanging beside them. We scanned our badges to enter. In the event of an explosion, firefighters would need to know who was still inside. Safety isn't just a protocol here; it's a principle. We suited up, vests, goggles, the smell of machinery sharp in the air, and followed a bullet's life from simple bits of metal to the final product.

Precision ruled every step in the production. Even picking one up felt like handling something sacred. Hold it, and the fat from a finger could throw off its performance, and the bullet would have to be thrown away. But it wasn't really about a few millimeters missed on target. It was about the feeling of confidence, knowing the ammo would work with 100% precision every time.

One thing struck us: the factory was right next to civilian homes. What if something went wrong? Our guide didn't flinch. The gunpowder was stored on the roof. And if the worst happened, the structure of the factory would make the explosion point toward the nearby lake, not the civilian houses. That's how the building was designed, and frankly had to be to fit regulatory requirements.

You could sense the pride in the workers, most of whom were hunters or shooters themselves. They knew the products intimately. Not just how they were made, but how they felt in the hand, how they sounded when fired. Norma had always been that way, from 1902 to now: ammunition made by people who use it.

Inside the Norma factory.

Inside the Norma factory.

But that wasn't all we did in Åmotfors. Dr. Pietro Gussalli Beretta himself flew to visit the factory and to have a sit-down with us, a rare appearance from the man behind one of the most storied names in firearms. He rarely grants interviews, though he appeared on the cover of Forbes earlier this year. This time, he sat down with us.

Our exclusive one-hour conversation with Pietro Gussalli Beretta will be published in Edge in two weeks. Stay tuned.

Beretta Holding now encompasses more than 50 subsidiaries spread out across the world. Together these contribute to its complete portfolio of over 20 brands, 20 manufacturing sites, operating in the sector of firearms, optics, ammunition, as well as clothing and accessories. Beretta Holding now operates manufacturing facilities in Italy, the United States, the UK, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond, and sells to customers in over 100 countries. By 2024, the group's annual revenue was roughly €1.6 billion, compared to €810 million in 2020.

The group's activities consist of three separate pillars: Manufacturing, Distribution, and Services & Experiences. Within these are several sub-categories, consisting of outdoor and hunting apparel, shooting sports (14 out of 15 medals dealt out at the Paris Olympic Games were won with Beretta rifles), lifestyle, and Defense & Law Enforcement.

The United States remains the single biggest market, accounting for about 37% of revenue in recent years. But keeping in the spirit of diversification and avoiding over-reliance on any specific business segment, no single brand accounts for more than 30% of the group's total revenue.

We're also going to touch upon the issue of war briefly before we continue. It would be impossible for us to write this article without acknowledging the fact that Beretta has and will continue to produce weapons that can be used to kill. But this is not a company that hopes that conflicts will emerge in order to boost its revenues. Beretta has experienced the horrors of war firsthand, and during WWII, its factory was commandeered and bombed, with its leader abducted at gunpoint.

The company doesn't look at wars with the eyes of an entrepreneur, but with a pragmatic view. Wars have always been a part of humanity's past, present, and unfortunately, future. Beretta Holding produces weapons for its country and its allies, who all have a right to defend themselves. Once politicians and society at large decide that conflicts and militaries are a thing of the past, Beretta Holding will stop producing weapons of war.

With that said, let's look at this diversification a bit closer. Roughly one-third of Beretta Holding’s revenue comes from military and law enforcement contracts, with the rest coming from the civilian market. The group has made a conscious decision to aim for this split, being well aware that relying on government-funded defense contracts is incredibly risky due to their unpredictability.

For example, when Beretta lost the contract to supply sidearms to the U.S. military in 2017, the growth in civilian gun purchases by regular Americans offset the loss. For another company solely relying on government contracts for its survival, this would've been catastrophic. Beretta Holding could simply pivot.

Being a global company in this context also helps. When military spending has lulled or when a contract has been lost, Beretta Holding's global commercial and sporting arms business has sustained the company.

But that's not to say that the defense business is an afterthought. Beretta Holding continues to develop new military products, and Beretta Defense Technologies (BDT) serves as an alliance of the group's companies to market integrated solutions to military and police clients. The group's ability to secure contracts is enhanced by its diversity. For instance, a country's army can procure pistols from Beretta, rifles from Sako, optics from Steiner, and ammunition from a company in Ammotec.

Conversely, this is also true on the civilian side of the business. Being a part of the Beretta Holding group is a form of guarantee of quality, and customers know this. A sports shooter or a hunter who is happy with their Beretta rifle can get everything else they need from a company in the group, regardless of whether that be ammunition or a silencer produced by Hausken in Norway. The latter was acquired in early 2025.

The strategy also places a huge emphasis on brand integrity and customer loyalty. When Beretta Holding acquires a brand like Holland & Holland or Sako, it lets those companies operate autonomously, while providing assistance through the group's resources and distribution networks. Firearm enthusiasts are often very brand-loyal, and by keeping acquired brands authentic, Beretta Holding can retain customers while offering them other products from its portfolio. A Beretta rifle owner might consider ammunition from RWS or a Steiner scope, all because they're under the same umbrella of quality.

Another strategic pillar, which has been in place for centuries, is continuous innovation and efficiency. Beretta Holding has employed a strategy of aggressively modernizing its production methods since the 1800s. Just like previous generations, Pietro Gussalli Beretta and his brother Franco Gussalli Beretta, have reinvested profits into state-of-the-art production methods in order to stay at the cutting edge of arms manufacturing, introducing advanced automation, CNC machining centers, and Industry 4.0 practices across its factories.

For example, at its Benelli shotgun plant in Italy, autonomous robotic vehicles ferry components between workstations, overhead displays track assembly progress in real-time, and robotic arms integrated with machine learning perform repetitive tests. The goal? Produce firearms as efficiently as possible, without compromising the slightest on quality.

If you want to get philosophical for a moment, one could summarize Beretta Holding's philosophy as respecting the past, without being trapped by it. While at first glance, creating a modern holding company in Luxembourg might not seem like the most obvious way to preserve a legacy but when you take a step back, it makes perfect sense.

By branching out into complementary niches (from clothing to optics to ammo) and bringing multiple legendary brands under one roof, the Beretta family ensured that their enterprise could weather market shifts that might have withered a single-product company. This way, Beretta can both grow in other product categories and continue to focus on doing what it does best: producing world-class firearms.

The Beretta family's private collection.

The Beretta family's private collection.

But most crucially, the creation of Beretta Holding has not diluted what the brand has stood for since the Venetian Arsenal placed an order five centuries ago. Each acquisition was chosen to either fill a gap in offerings or to bring in top-tier expertise. By allowing these brands to continue to do what they've always done, Beretta Holding has arguably saved them from the fate that can often befall companies swallowed by conglomerates.

Instead of being asset-stripped or having quality eroded, brands like Sako or Holland & Holland have continued to flourish with investments in product development and manufacturing. The result is a win-win: the Beretta name gains luster by association with all these esteemed brands, and those brands reap the benefits from being part of a larger group.

So, while the current generation of leadership correctly identified the need to expand and change with the times, like always, it was done while keeping tradition and quality front and center.

As you've been reading through the sections about Beretta Holding, you might've thought to yourself, “This sounds reminiscent of the way many luxury companies operate”. If you did, you wouldn't be too far from the truth. Yes, Beretta Holding is comprised of makers of firearms and accessories, but it also sells heritage, craftsmanship, and prestige.

Instead, we're referring to the principles guiding the group, which are strikingly similar to what you find in companies like LVMH, Kering, or Richemont. Just like when one of the largest luxury groups in the world makes an acquisition, more often than not, they let the newly acquired company continue to focus on what it does best.

Similar to how LVMH will preserve the distinct identity of a brand while plugging it into a broader network, Beretta Holding protects the soul of its brands while modernizing its operations. Holland & Holland, for instance, has retained its workshop in London and its signature engraving styles, but now benefits from Beretta Holding's global reach, capital investment, and supply chain expertise. The same logic applies to Sako, Benelli, and Steiner, each with its own loyal customer base, price point, and market niche.

Rather than folding these into a monolithic “Beretta” product line, the family has built a portfolio of storied names, each contributing to the group. The result is a brand architecture that looks strikingly familiar to the aforementioned luxury groups. In the way LVMH might offer both “affordable” T-shirts and incredibly expensive jackets under different brands, Beretta Holding offers a layered ecosystem.

Then there's the craftsmanship. One of the defining traits of luxury companies is their commitment to traditional manufacturing techniques, even as they embrace modern technology. At Beretta's facilities in Gardone, Sako's factory in Finland, or Benelli's plant in Urbino, the approach is remarkably similar to what you'd find at Rolex in Geneva. Advanced robotics and CNC machines handle repeatable precision tasks, but finishing, fitting, and especially engraving are still done by master artisans, often with decades of experience.

So, while you can pick up a Stoeger shotgun for a relatively modest sum, you can also spend five or six figures. When a customer buys an engraved Beretta rifle or a bespoke Holland & Holland shotgun, they're not spending upwards of $150,000 purely for function. They're paying for centuries of expertise, heritage, and the master engraver's touch. You don't have to pay that much for a Beretta or an H&H, but the point is that you can, and many people spend years on a waitlist to be allowed to do so.

Beretta's annual one-off: S06 Sparviere Marco Polo.

Beretta's annual one-off: S06 Sparviere Marco Polo.

But it also extends into experiences. Clients can visit Beretta Galleries in New York, Dallas, Paris, or London, and have an experience rooted in elegance and heritage. Again, not unlike what you would find from a luxury group. The luxury experience segment is best summarized by what is offered at Holland & Holland Shooting Grounds, a quintessential British countryside retreat on the outskirts of London. Here, clients can experience world-class shooting instruction paired with gourmet dining.

So all in all, Beretta Holding has clients in civilians, the military, Olympic athletes, hunters, collectors, mariners, outdoor enthusiasts, birdwatchers, and everything in between. But what's remarkable is that it manages to satisfy all these groups while obsessing over brand, protecting legacy, and refusing to compromise on quality.

The Beretta story is as much about business strategy as it is about making guns. The family's willingness to embrace change, whether it was moving from barrels to whole guns in the 1800s, adopting new manufacturing in the 1900s, or reorganizing as a holding company in the 1990s, shows incredible agility for a company of such age. Yet, through all the change, the soul of the company remains intact: it is still very much the Beretta family business.

The headquarters for Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta are still in Gardone Val Trompia, and host a museum lined with firearms from every era. At the same time, in all Beretta-owned factories in the world, robots hum as they assemble a state-of-the-art hunting rifle or laser-inspect a pistol barrel, continuing to have quality as its north star. When you boil down nearly 500 years of history, this is the essence of Beretta's success: tradition coupled with relentless innovation, century after century.

We would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone at Beretta Holding for providing us with sources, research material, images, and answering our countless questions for this article. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed producing it. If you liked this issue, we can promise that the next part won't disappoint.