On October 3, 2026, Beretta marks its 500th anniversary. Few companies in any industry can point to a single piece of paper and say, “That’s where it started.” Beretta can.
On October 3, 1526, Maestro Bartolomeo Beretta presented an invoice to the arsenal in Venice, Italy. It detailed the sale of 185 arquebus barrels to the Venetian Republic for 296 ducats.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| When was Beretta founded? | Beretta dates its founding to October 3, 1526, the date of its earliest surviving business record. |
| Who founded Beretta? | Maestro Bartolomeo Beretta, a gun barrel maker in Gardone Val Trompia, Italy. |
| What was Beretta’s first recorded sale? | 185 arquebus barrels to the Republic of Venice, for 296 ducats. |
| Where is Beretta based? | Gardone Val Trompia, in the province of Brescia, Italy. |
| What is the company’s official name? | Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta, a name it has carried since 1832. |
| Who owns Beretta today? | The Beretta family, now in its 15th generation, led by brothers Pietro and Franco Gussalli Beretta. |
| Is Beretta the oldest gun manufacturer? | Yes. Beretta is the world’s oldest continuously operating firearms manufacturer. |
| What is Beretta’s best-known pistol? | The Model 92, introduced in 1976. As the M9, it was adopted by the U.S. military in 1985. |
| When did Beretta come to the U.S.? | Beretta USA was founded in 1977. Its Gallatin, Tennessee, factory opened in 2016. |
| What is Beretta Holding? | The family’s parent company, which owns brands including Benelli, Burris, Franchi, Sako, Steiner, Stoeger, Tikka, and Uberti. |
| How is Beretta marking 500 years? | The celebration kicked off at SHOT Show 2026, with ten unique firearms and seven limited-edition models planned through the year. |
How Beretta Began: the 1526 Invoice
Maestro Bartolomeo, by his very title, was a respected barrel maker, and historians believe his forge was established around the year 1500. The invoice, which resides in the Venetian archives, is simply the oldest proof of a sale, so that’s the date Beretta claims.
His forge was in Gardone, in Northern Italy’s Val Trompia, a valley whose iron deposits had been mined since Roman times. Val Trompia had some 40 ironworks during Bartolomeo’s time, supported by 50 mines and eight smelters.
In Renaissance Italy, trades ran through the guild system, which tightly regulated who could make what, and often handed skilled craftsmen a near-monopoly in their specialty. Bartolomeo trained his son Jacopo, who, in turn, trained his son, Giovannino. And on it went. Beretta was a true family business.
Italy at the time was a patchwork of city-states, Venice among them, often at war with one another. No single barrel maker could supply that demand, but by the end of the 1600s, Beretta had become the second-largest in Gardone.
From Barrel Maker to Gunmaker
Everything changed in 1797, when Napoleon took Venice and swept away the guild system. With the old rules gone and the Venetian Republic no longer its only customer, Beretta could sell wherever the wars of the Napoleonic era created demand. And there was plenty.
Waterloo ended Napoleon’s run in 1815, but Italy remained divided among rival states, many under Austrian control. Pietro Antonio Beretta used those years to build customers up and down the Italian Peninsula, and in 1832, the business took the name it still carries: Fabrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta. That’s why Beretta firearms are stamped “Pietro Beretta” and bear the “PB” logo.
His son Giuseppe took the business across Italy’s borders and, just as importantly, moved Beretta from making barrels to building complete guns. A growing civilian market did the rest: output jumped from roughly 300 guns a year in the mid-1800s to 8,000 in 1800 alone.
For a closer look at these early centuries, see Beretta: 500 Years and Counting.
Modernizing the Family Business
The next Pietro, Guiseppe’s son, gave the factory its own power, building a hydroelectric plant in 1913. Beretta added another hydroelectric plant in 1949, a gas cogeneration plant in 1998, and a photovoltaic system in 2009-2010.
He also patented a long list of machines and parts. In 1933, the SO series arrived as Italy’s first over/under shotgun, and Beretta’s shotgun reputation took off from there.
The brand people recognize today was coming together, too. Beretta adopted its three-arrows logo in 1949, and it hasn’t changed since.
Both World Wars kept Beretta busy supplying the Italian military with rifles, pistols, and automatic firearms. The darkest stretch came in 1943: when Italy switched to the Allied side, German forces took over the Gardone plant and held Pietro hostage until Italian partisans got him out.
Beretta Goes Global
Pietro’s sons, Giuseppe and Carlo, pushed further still. Through the 1960s, they set up distribution partnerships in the United Kingdom, France, Greece, and beyond.
Beretta opened manufacturing facilities in Brazil in 1974 and in the United States in 1977. The move to the U.S. came on the heels of the company’s 1976 introduction of an all-time classic pistol: the Beretta Model 92.
The Model 92 and the M9
The Model 92 vaulted Beretta to the fore of the emerging “Wonder Nine” phenomenon, with which the gun became synonymous. Even today, Model 92 variants remain bestsellers and pop culture mainstays. American demand was insatiable. In Brazil, once Beretta finished its contracts for the Brazilian military, it sold the São Paulo plant to Taurus in 1980.
The Model 92F won the U.S. Army’s M9 pistol trials in 1985, validating the U.S. expansion. That expansion was instrumental to securing the M9 contract, which required U.S. production.
The U.S. military has since adopted a different sidearm, but the Model 92’s sales remain robust, including the still-produced M9 configurations. The Model 92 has been and remains the company’s flagship pistol, despite Beretta’s well-deserved reputation as a maker of fine, world-class shotguns.
Beretta Today
Beretta USA is headquartered in Gallatin, Tennessee, where it moved in 2016 after Maryland passed new gun restrictions in 2013.
Fifteen generations of Berettas have run the iconic firearms company. The only slight hiccup came when Giuseppe and Carlo died childless. The reins passed to Ugo Gussalli, who married into the family and adopted the Beretta surname. Ugo’s sons, Pietro and Franco, now run the company as descendants of Maestro Bartolomeo through their mother.
The firm is still based in Gardone, Italy, easily the oldest business in town. It’s also the world’s oldest continuously operating firearms manufacturer — a run no other gunmaker comes close to.
Beretta remains one of the few iconic brands that has never been sold, bought, or acquired. Instead, the Beretta family has built their own firearms conglomerate. Beretta Holding owns numerous brands, including Benelli, Burris, Franchi, Holland & Holland, Norma, Sako, Steiner, Stoeger, Tikka, Uberti, and, of course, Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta itself.
For military customers, the group pools the strengths of Beretta, Benelli, Sako, and Steiner under Beretta Defense Technologies, launched in early 2010s.
The company now does business in 90 countries around the world. It remains among the most respected brands in the industry. That success isn’t by accident. It’s the result of centuries of planning and effort, executed across multiple generations of Berettas.
Celebrating Beretta’s 500th Anniversary
Beretta kicked off its 500th anniversary at SHOT Show 2026 and has been rolling out ten unique firearms and several limited-edition models through the year. The 15th generation still leads — Pietro Gussalli Beretta heads Beretta Holding, and Franco Gussalli Beretta heads Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta — while the 16th, including Carlo Gussalli Beretta, is already part of the business.
Through Beretta Holding, the company looks poised to continue that success and further cement itself as an industry leader. One wonders what Maestro Bartolomeo would make of it all.
Beretta’s 500th Anniversary: Questions Answered
When is Beretta’s 500th anniversary?
October 3, 2026, 500 years after Bartolomeo Beretta’s October 3, 1526, invoice to the Republic of Venice.
Is Beretta the oldest gun manufacturer in the world?
Yes. Beretta is the world’s oldest continuously operating firearms manufacturer.
Who owns Beretta?
The Beretta family, now in its 15th generation, through Beretta Holding.
What brands does Beretta Holding own?
Brands include Benelli, Burris, Franchi, Sako, Steiner, Stoeger, Tikka, and Uberti.
Why are Beretta guns stamped “PB”?
“PB” stands for Pietro Beretta. The company has operated as Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta since 1832.
