Interview with an Italian Master Engraver for Beretta
While stopping in at Beretta's renowned campus at Gardone Val Trompia, near Milan, Italy, Guns.com had the privilege of meeting with the company's in-house master engravers.
In a world that has increasingly adopted flat and soulless laser engraving and etching for firearms, it is refreshing to see that the "old ways" are still cherished. Beretta, a family-run company with roots going back to the 1500s, is definitely old-world.
Old School
Beretta has an entire building set aside for its artisans, the Pietro Beretta Custom Atelier, with the bottom floor dedicated to gunsmiths, woodworkers, and gun case makers crafting functional works of art in the form of firearms, while the top floor is dedicated to the engravers.
The Atelier. The word translates to a studio or workshop where a group of skilled artists work together for a common goal.
The basics of engraving at Beretta, part of the company's centuries of Italian gunmaking art, is fundamentally unchanged over the past few centuries.
The work of chasing hammers and chisels, constantly hand-sharpened and honed, gets the job done. No pneumatics here.
It is an up-close and personal job, with Beretta's artists often spending hundreds of hours on one piece.
If you can imagine, starting with a blank slate of steel, and spending in some cases an entire season – all summer, or all fall – before it is finished.
The reason the engravers have the top floor of the building is for abundant natural light. Another old-school trick.
The work can be so detailed that you need a jeweler's loup to appreciate it.
You can almost smell the flowers.
Besides receivers and side locks, a host of small parts can be embellished.
Incorporating deep scrollwork and extensive wire inlays, a piece such as this would require some 500 hours of engraving.
But the effect is stunning.
Beretta often creates unique presentation-grade pieces that take a team effort and months to complete.
Incorporate the engravings with high-quality select walnut furniture in a perfectly fitted gun, and you have a true heirloom piece.
We'd like to thank Beretta for the opportunity to tour their amazing facility, and we look forward to appreciating their work for years to come.
