Part 6/11:
To appreciate how the Beretta family evolved from simple barrel makers to titans of the arms industry, we must journey back to the verdant valleys of Renaissance Italy. There, in the bustling region of Lombardy, a skilled craftsman named Bartolomeo Beretta received an order that would alter his family's destiny forever.
In Gardone Val Trompia, known for its iron-working heritage and rich natural resources, Bartolomeo established a workshop that specialized in crafting gun barrels. His pivotal order for 185 aquabus barrels from the prestigious Venetian Arsenal in 1526 marked the ascendancy of the Beretta name in arms manufacturing.