In the autumn of 1526, iron met fire in a narrow valley of Northern Italy. A modest contract—185 arquebus barrels for the Arsenal of Venice—passed through the hands of Bartolomeo Beretta. It was a practical exchange, unremarkable in its day. Yet, like many quiet moments in natural history, it carried consequences far beyond its scale.
Nearly five centuries later, Beretta remains in Gardone Val Trompia, still drawing meaning from the same terrain. The company will mark its quincentennial in 2026 not as a monument to the past, but as evidence of a lineage that never stopped moving.
