Review by Joseph P. Tartaro | Executive Editor
BERETTA: 500 Years of the World’s Finest Sporting Life, written by Nicholas Foulkes, with photography by Andy Anderson. ©2016. Published by Rizzoli International, 300 Park Avenue South, New York, NY. Oversize hard cover, 288 pages. Price: $75. Available in book stores and at online book sellers, usually at about 30% off list.
It’s a big book, which it has to be, as have most opf the definite histories of the major gun manufacturers of the world published by some of the world’s major publishing houses.
What sets this one apart is the detailed history of the company that started manufacturing arms in 1522 in a remote corner of the cold mountains in northern Italy in an era when most people still depended on swords both for military combat and for personal defense. And, of course, the spectacular photography that is lavished splashed throughout is 288 pages.
To many of our readers, Beretta is immediately associated with fine shotguns, or in recent years with the M9 pistol which has been a mainstay for the America military since Browning’s Model 1911 was largely retired. I say largely because many special units of the American military still rely on the .45 caliber 1911 design in one form or another.
This landmark volume celebrates five centuries of Beretta history—bringing together the rich history and experience of the world’s finest shotguns as well as the sporting lifestyle for those people who revel in the shooting sports, at private estates as well as public ranges. Collectors, shooting sports enthusiasts, hunters, and those who appreciate the finest aspects of the outdoor and sporting lifestyle have one thing in common all over the world—they all know and appreciate a Beretta firearm.
In the pages of this unusual volume, you’ll see them on safari in Africa, in the years when big game hunting there was still practiced by anyone who could afford it.
Since the sixteen century, the Beretta name has been synonymous with uncompromising craftsmanship and performance in firearms. These guns have been carried into the field by some of the most iconic figures in modern culture, from Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway to Sean Connery and Norman Schwarzkopf, as well as current US Olympic gold-medalist shooters. In the back of the book, there are reference indices that chart Olympic winners who reliued on Berettas, as well as a detailed structure chart of the current Beretta business, in Italy and the US.
In this book, the Beretta family for the first time opens the doors to its family villa, properties, and factory in Gardone, Italy, to show the world’s finest guns being made by hand. Interspersed are photos not just of the guns but the family that has run the company for such a historic stretch of time.
This book is not just about the company and its products, but about the sporting lifestyle as it has been. The book immerses the reader in the field, with sumptuous photography that shows the shooting and sporting lifestyle at its best—from Argentina to Oregon, Scotland to Tanzania. It truly spans the globe: from the Beretta galleries in Buenos Aires, Dallas, London, Milan, New York, and Paris to celebrating the sporting life at Beretta’s endorsed lodges, including Blackberry Farm, Tennessee, upland hunting at Highland Hills, Oregon, a traditional quail hunt at Pine Hill, Georgia, a driven shoot on the moors of Scotland, a safari in Tanzania, and duck hunting in Louisiana, Argentina, and Venice.
This is the ideal gift for fine-gun aficionados, a showcase of Beretta’s best work, and a bucket list for sportsmen and sportswomen and all those aspiring to the pursuit of life afield at its finest.
Anyone whose library includes the definitive histories of other major brands in the firearms field—Colt, Winchester, Remington, Smith & Wesson—will want to add to their library.
Beretta is a key part of the history of famous guns.
