Good Things From Italy - Le Cose Buone d'Italia

Benelli was established in Pesaro Italy in 1911 making it the oldest of all European motorcycle manufacturers still operational today.
Teresa Benelli, a widow, invested all of the family capital into the business hoping it would offer stable work for her six sons: Giuseppe, Giovanni, Francesco, Filippo, Domenico and Antonio. She also sent Giuseppe and Giovanni to study engineering in Switzerland.
In the beginning, it was just the ‘Benelli Garage’, which repaired cars and motorcycles and was already able to produce all of the spare parts needed for repairs.
It was in 1920 when Benelli built its first complete engine in-house, a single-cylinder two-stroke 75cc model, immediately adapted to a bicycle frame. Two years later using a version specially designed for competitions, the youngest brother Antonio (‘Tonino’) Benelli made his racing debut.
During the Second World War the Benelli factory was completely destroyed and looted. But the Benelli brothers never lost their passion for motorcycles and Benelli was resurrected from the ashes of the factory. In 1939 Ted Mellors won the Tourist Trophy, riding a Benelli motorcycle.

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Leader in Semi Automatic Shotguns, Pistols and Rifles sales and Production.

In 1967 the Benelli brothers, the same as those of the motorcycle factory, founded Benelli Armi in Urbino enthused by their great passion for hunting. They had the ingenious foresight to understand that shotguns would have progressed into repeaters and their aim was to construct a hunting gun able to fire five rounds in less than a second.

Bruno Civolani put their ideas into practice by inventing the Benelli inertial system, which exploits the inertia of the masses instead of the traditional gas operated mechanism, guaranteeing certainty and reliability. The prestige of Benelli Armi grew as years went by, with the launching of innovative and prized firearms but without relinquishing the love of tradition.