The Beretta 500 celebration begins with the start of 2026. H&B got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what the future of this storied gunmaker looks like as 2025 was coming to a close.
The first thing you notice in Beretta’s storied manufacturing plant, located in Gardone Val Trompia, is the sound. It’s not loud; it’s layered. The craftsmen there carefully rasping walnut stocks. The hum of machines milling steel frames. A thrumming heartbeat of a factory that has been perfected across half a millennium.
The “Valley of Arms,” as it is commonly referred to, due to its long and prolific tradition of firearm manufacturing, centered in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy, is steeped in history, and one company, Beretta, is its crown jewel.
During the 1980s as the company prepared for its 300th anniversary, they were presented with an incredible historical find—a handwritten receipt for the sale of barrels to the Venetians dated in the year 1526.
This certainly threw a wrench in the celebration plans, as it added nearly 200 years to the company’s heritage, but it also further illustrated the legacy of the Beretta family.
The “receipt” detailing the sale of 185 arquebus barrels is written to Mastro Bartolomeo Beretta. What’s interesting about that, beyond the historical impact, is the use of the title “Mastro” or master.
To become a master, it takes decades of practice and generations of history, meaning the company approximates 80 more years of lineage on top of the officially documented 500 years. This solidifies Beretta as the world’s oldest firearms manufacturer — and for good reason.
On one end of the campus, artisans hand-polish stocks and trace stories into steel; on the other, robots pivot and gauge tolerances through choreography only an engineer could love.
But what really makes Beretta is the people — the soul of the company — some of whom have worked there for more than three decades and represent generations of family members who also worked for Beretta.
Leading the company are Pietro Gussalli Beretta and Franco Gussalli Beretta, with Franco’s 28-year-old son, Carlo Gussalli Beretta, being groomed to assume the 16th generation of leadership.
Notably, Pietro has a 13-year-old daughter, Maria Teresa, who, if she chooses, will also share in the leadership, but she has many years to make that decision.
Lessons From Franco Beretta
Franco Beretta smiles often. It catches you off guard because he’s also precise, and precise people aren’t always warm. He is both. But his leadership style didn’t stem from some Ivy League business school; it came from service. Not corporate service, but national service.
He did his time with the Carabinieri, Italy’s gendarmerie, and the way he describes it makes you better understand this company than any factory tour ever could.
“In the barracks,” he says, “you reset completely. From the moment you walk in, someone is yelling, time is measured to the minute and you learn you are the same as everybody else, no matter what walk of life or family you come from. You obey, you march, you share the bathroom with a hundred others. It is not comfortable. But it makes you a man.”
He tells me about the first week when nothing is natural, when even drinking a glass of water is a privilege you earn by marching in step as a group. Freedom through discipline and synchronization. It’s hard not to see the metaphor. In this valley, talent matters. But the team matters more.
The other lesson came with the uniform itself. The Carabinieri are close to the people, he explains, and also the guardians of rules. “You are not Franco anymore,” he says. “You are a Carabiniere. Responsibility lives above your name.” It is humility in rank, duty over preference. Millions of guns later, Beretta still behaves that way.
Franco’s own CEO chair arrived in due time and came with his father’s, Ugo Gussalli Beretta’s, guardrails: Choose your team, learn the craft, but remember, I am still here. Franco led Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta; his brother, Pietro, handled Beretta Holding.
Titles came first, real authority later. “There is a difference,” he says, “between day-to-day management, professional skills and the longer, risk-bearing vision of an entrepreneur. I had to grow from one into the other.”
It tracks with how he thinks about inheritance. In his telling, the handoff from his father was soft, never forced. “University and military service were required,” he says. “After that, if you want to work here, good. If not, go find your path.” He offered Carlo the same freedom to choose.
Franco keeps returning to two pillars: people and financial health. “We are entrepreneurs,” he says, “but the company belongs first to the people who make it what it is. And it must remain financially independent so we are never at the mercy of others.”
Then he tells me a story I’d read before but wanted to hear in his voice. In his great-grandfather’s private office sat a safe labeled “Home Security,” stocked with enough gold to pay employees for an entire year. “If you cannot pay your people,” he says simply, “you have nothing.”
The Incoming 16th Generation of Berettas
Carlo Gussalli Beretta arrives with an Italian swagger, but you can also tell an anxious mind with many facets of the business still running in his subconscious. He was born in New York, is fluent in both Italian and American cultures, and is unflinchingly honest about what he is and isn’t.
“I was never pressured,” he tells me. “No one said, ‘Study this because one day you’ll do that.’ I studied what I liked, economics and management. I’m not an engineer. So, I asked, ‘What can I bring to a factory full of engineers?’ People. Culture. Connection.”
The question didn’t stay theoretical. Carlo worked in HR at West Point’s Behavioral Sciences & Leadership Department and later at Bombardier Transportation in Berlin, watching how complex organizations move and why they sometimes don’t.
His takeaway was less about org charts than osmosis. Corporate cultures that touch each other improve each other. Those that silo, fail.
“Teams calls are fine,” he says, “but when I walk into the factory in Tennessee or the office in Accokeek, people change how they engage. Trust is faster in person.”
Carlo’s path inside the company started where his advantages didn’t, HR and marketing, and has since widened into something he’s uniquely suited to lead: the Pietro Beretta Selection & Luxury side of Beretta, where customer experience must honor centuries of craft while feeling unmistakably modern.
“High-end,” he says, “is not price alone. It’s memory. It’s everything around the object, the way you’re welcomed, how the story is told, the feeling that your gun is the only one like it.”
He’s also the one saying quiet things out loud about digital culture. Not the bombastic “move fast and break things” you hear in tech hubs, but the disciplined version that fits an artisan. “We can’t throw sensitive data into open tools,” he says.
“Innovation here is step by step. Bottom-up culture building. Teaching teams how to use what’s safe, and when.”
That doesn’t mean Beretta is standing still. One early application came from the shop floor — AI-assisted grading of walnut stocks. Master graders taught a vision model to classify and score the figure and pattern of the sourced wood so expertise can scale and the human eye can focus on the craftsmanship and finish.
In R&D, engineers are exploring CAD accelerants and predictive maintenance for CNC machines. In contracts, AI triage helps parse through thousand-page government contracts.
“It’s not always visible,” Carlo says. “But almost every segment has a use case, some more, some less. The real work is sharing what we learn so we don’t solve the same problem twice.”
His personal life looks like the inside of a well-lived duffel: tennis racquet, swim cap, range bag, a fine Swiss watch and more interests than a week allows. “I like everything,” he admits, pistol at the range, clays on the weekend, the hunt when it’s on.
He’s balancing what every ambitious 20-something learns the hard way: If your calendar has no white space, your body will make some. So, he’s learning to say no. Designing a routine. Discovering the Italian word for “staycation” doesn’t quite exist yet, and wanting to invent it for himself as he matures.
The Milestone That Isn’t a Finish Line
I asked both men the same question: What does 500 years mean? A museum badge or a runway? Carlo didn’t hesitate. “Both,” he says. “We’ll celebrate. But it is a pivot to the next 500.”
In typical Beretta fashion, the plan is ambitious where it counts—the product. The company has long produced a singular “one-off” masterpiece each year, works of art that also shoot like a dream. The 500th year flips the ratio—10 one-offs across the portfolio, pistol, rifle, shotgun—each pushing the very limits of generations of craftsmen.
“Beretta is the only house in our space,” Carlo says, “that lives fully in two worlds—the atelier where everything is hand-done and the modern plant where everything is automated. The beauty is sometimes crossing them.”
The Quiet Leader
Franco listens longer than you would expect. He speaks less than most executives I have met before. But when he does, the room listens. I asked what he’d learned from his father that he carried forward. He didn’t talk about revenue or even product. He talked about relationships.
“If you want to lead here, you must be professional,” he says, by which he means competent, prepared, deeply literate in the craft. “But you must also have a human relationship with your team. Without it, you cannot manage a company like this.”
His career path is a case study in the difference between “professional” and “entrepreneur.” For years, he ran the factory. His brother, a finance mind, built the holding structure, bank relationships and acquisitions.
Their father kept the hardest decisions, the existential bets, at his desk until the sons were ready to absorb the risk themselves. “Medium-long strategy,” Franco calls it with an Italian cadence, the sort of phrase that sounds simple until you try doing it.
When his father finally stepped back at 76 years old, Franco learned firsthand how many complicated things make their way to the president’s desk.
The philosophy beneath the structure is why Beretta isn’t a public company chasing quarterly dividends or a private equity flip. “Many of my friends are successful businessmen,” Franco says.
“They optimize marginality to sell and live lavish lives. We respect that. But it is not our mindset. We put the company first.” That’s how you survive wars, plagues and 16 handoffs.
Carlo Beretta: The Son Who Listens
Carlo is not a copy of his father. He has his own style—a diamond-draped designer version that has left his father’s tweed blazers behind for custom pinstriped suits. But much of his demeanor is the same.
He’ll tell you he’s a listener, something his friends tease him about because first impressions sometimes misread his reserve. But during our long interview and the day we spent together, I saw the same habit play out.
“I value an expert,” he says, “I want decisions backed by the person who knows the most, so I listen more than I speak.”
That self-awareness keeps him out of the trap every heir dreads: telling master craftsmen how to do what they already do better. “I won’t be the one to teach a barrel maker to make a barrel,” he says with confidence. “I need to understand enough of everything and then build the right teams.”
There’s a humility in how he’s designed his lane. On one end, he pushed himself into the parts of the company that don’t fit his natural wiring so he could speak the language and feel the constraints.
On the other hand, he took stewardship of the places he can truly shape—luxury experience, cross-cultural collaboration and the slow march of digital capability through a heritage brand.
You see this balance in how he talks about AI. He’s not trying to bolt computers onto engraving benches. He’s trying to remove drag where craft doesn’t live, so craft can live longer where it does.
Beretta's Pivot
What remains is a recipe for success: Beretta thrives because generation after generation has treated legacy not as a weight to be carried, but as an opportunity to charge forward.
Before I left, we talked about the 10 one-offs coming for the 500th year. We talked about the differences between Beretta Italy and Beretta USA. We traded notes on trucks, fitness and being a CEO who once packed boxes and still worries about the person stocking the shelves.
Franco laughed when I told him about the first time Hook & Barrel’s magazine racks ran empty in a Bass Pro and the apologetic phone calls that followed. He knows those problems. He’s been there before.
I walked the plant one last time before departing, listened to the hum of the factory and realized the headline for this piece had been there all along. Legacy isn’t something you hold. It’s something you carry the distance you can, with the people who will outlast you.
Beretta at 500 isn’t a museum exhibition. It’s an invitation, and Hook & Barrel is honored to help you open the door.
A Timeline of Beretta's Extensive Firearm History
1526 - The First Spark of an Arquebus
Bartolomeo Beretta sold 185 arquebus barrels to the Arsenal of the Republic of Venice. The intuition of a small artisan workshop marked the beginning of five centuries of history and of a globally trusted name.
1571 - Ottoman Empire Turned Back
The support for the Republic of Venice in Lepanto halted the Ottoman advance and marked the beginning of its positioning as a leader in firearms excellence.
1790 - Beretta Supplies France with Muskets
Beretta supplied 40,000 muskets to the French army. The guns were used by both the revolutionaries and the Empire's forces, transcending sides as they saw action under different banners.
1830 - Damascus Barrel Production Begins
Perfecting the Damascus steel method has allowed for the revolutionization of industrial barrel production, making Beretta a true pioneer in the field.
1850 - Mella River Flood
When the Mella River flooded, Beretta didn't just recover; they rebuilt and established their current production site, turning a crisis into a new beginning.
1880 - Beretta's First Firearm Showroom
Giuseppe Antonio Beretta started the world's first firearms showroom, known today as the Beretta Private Collection (or Beretta Museum) holding more than 1200 historical fireams.
1903 - Beretta Embraces Industrial Revolution
Under the guidance of Pietro Beretta, a historic leap: from artisanal tradition to modern industrial production, which made the company a trusted supplier for governments and foreign markets.
1913 - Beretta Adopts Alternative Energy
At a time when energy came mainly from fossil fuels, Beretta built one of the first hydroelectric power plants in Italy.
1915 - The Dawn of the Modern Pistol
The creation of the first semi-automatic pistol, the Model 1915, marked the company’s transformation into a global brand.
1933 - Crafting O/U Luxury
The SO1 was born, a handcrafted luxury shotgun and precursor to the modern SO10, opening the global market for premium over-under shotguns.
1945 - Beretta Gets Into Automobiles
The BBC car: Beretta’s adventure in the automotive industry. The company produced automobiles for a short period, but this clearly demonstrated its capability to innovate and venture into new areas.
1947 - Industrial Mastery Begins
The ASE field shotgun was born: the first over-and-under employing machining and industrial technology. Combining experience and boldness, the ASE is the forefather of the legendary DT11.
1949 - A Turning Point
In the post-war era Beretta became Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A. (the equivalent of a Public Limited Company or a Corporation).
1950 - The Bridge to America
Driven by the desire to establish a presence far from its roots, Beretta crossed the ocean for the first time and set its sights on the United States.
1953 - Beretta's Classic Logo Introduced
Gabriele D'Annunzio's artistic genius saw the significance of Beretta and gifted what has become the company's historic logo.
1956 - Beretta Participates in 1st Olympic Games
A winning decision led Beretta to participate in its first Olympic Games in Melbourne, where Galliano Rossini won a gold medal using a Beretta shotgun.
1977 - Beretta USA Founded: The American Breakthrough
Beretta USA was founded, establishing a direct presence in the United States to better serve both private customers and institutional partners.
1981 - The Beretta Foundation: A Legacy of Hope
With human and ethical motivations at its core, the Beretta Foundation was created to advance cancer study and treatment, benefiting the local community.
1985 - Beretta M9 Pistol Adopted by U.S.
A precision weapon that combines durability and reliability in all conditions, adopted by the U.S. military with an order of 457,454 units.
1990 - Beretta Clothing Line Launched
Beretta's clothing line was launched to fuse functional hunting apparel with sophisticated lifestyle design.
1995 - Beretta Establishes an Early Web Presence
When digital did not yet dominate the world, Beretta was ahead of its time by registering the first web domain: beretta.com.
1995 - First Beretta Gallery Opens in NY
The first Beretta Gallery opened in New York, taking a pioneering step in the industry: engaging directly with end users for the first time, moving beyond the traditional focus on retailers and specialists.
1995 - One Vision, Many Paths
Beretta Holding expanded global opportunities through the integration of companies producing and distributing complementary products to Beretta.
2011 - BDT Is Founded
The founding of Beretta Defense Technologies (BDT) has enabled Beretta to quickly adapt to the evolving global defense market.
2023 - Pietro Beretta Selection Introduced
A new collection was born to preserve artisanal craftsmanship, combining elegance, attention to detail, excellence, and passion: the Pietro Beretta Selection.
2023 - Beretta Certifies Carbon Footprint
As a symbol of Beretta’s commitment to environmental sustainability, the company chose to certify the carbon footprint of its products for the first time.
2024 - Beretta Dominates Olympics in Paris
At the Paris Olympic Games, 14 out of 15 clay shooting medals were won by athletes shooting with a Beretta. This unprecedented victory marked a historic record for the brand.
2024 - Steelium Pro X Barrel Introduced
The invention of the Steelium Pro X barrel completed the Steelium range, bringing in centuries of craftsmanship and the best of Beretta technology, for superior ballistic performance and a legacy built shot by shot.
2026 - Five Centuries of Firearm History
With the gaze fixed on the future, Beretta celebrates the first five centuries of a timeless story, builton insights, values, innovation, and a shared purpose.
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