Beretta's Engravers Spent 800 Hours on the SL3 Dante Alighieri
To mark the 700th anniversary of the passing of Dante, the famed Italian poet, writer, and philosopher, Beretta produced a one-of-a-kind shotgun.
Born in Florence in 1265, Durante degli Alighieri, better known to history as Dante, died in 1321. Among his best-known works are "Divine Comedy," "Paradise," and "Inferno," which are frequently required reading in many classic lit courses.
"To celebrate this milestone anniversary, we created a unique masterpiece 20 gauge. SL3 shotgun with 30-inch barrels, continuing the one-off series based on that platform," noted Beretta.
A team of four Beretta engravers, headed by Luca Casari, selected some of the most meaningful verses from the works of Dante, "the Sommo Poeta," to create unique engravings through different techniques including English scrollwork as well as Hammer and burin engraving.
"Some of the most iconic verses and scenes from Dante’s Divine Comedy were chosen by our team of engravers as a source of inspiration, with scenes and sentences taken from Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso books," said the company of the piece, which is functional art.
The SL3 Dante is not the first time Beretta has crafted a tribute SL3 to iconic Italian figures. In 2020, they created a special shotgun of the type dedicated to the winged victory Vittoria Alata Roman statue.