Benelli

The Benelli brothers founded Benelli Armi in Urbino in 1967.¹ The brothers, who already made motorcycles, backed Bruno Civolani’s shotgun project.² Civolani developed the inertia system on which the new gun was based.² In January 1969 Benelli delivered a pilot run of 150 inertia-operated, 12-bore semi-automatics.³

Benelli links its design to the Renaissance history of Urbino.⁴ Its plant there has been expanded and modernised over the years.⁴ Beretta acquired the company in 1983.⁴ Benelli later set up its American sales subsidiary at Accokeek, Maryland.⁴

Benelli built its first Urbino plant in 1968 and expanded it again in 2017.^{5, 6} In 1975 Paolo Benelli established Benelli Iberica in Spain.⁷ The American sales subsidiary followed at Accokeek in 1997.⁸

Benelli belongs to the same group as Beretta, Franchi, Stoeger, Chapuis Armes and Holland & Holland.⁹ In 2019 a collaboration with students at the Accademia di Belle Arti d’Urbino produced the Raffaello Accademia Limited Edition.¹⁰ The students helped develop the gun’s engraving designs.¹⁰ The collaboration continued and produced several more works within the company.¹⁰