Our history

Famiglia Berti - Bignami

 

The story of Bignami began in 1937, thanks to our father and grandfather Battista Berti. As a skilled and passionate hunter and shooter, he loved to spend time to advise and train his friends and hunting companions on the shooting ranges.

But, the family activity casually started in Bolzano, after a working day, at the back of an electrical appliance store owned by a close friend, a passionate hunter himself.

Then, in 1939 father/grandfather Battista officially opened the Bignami gun-shop in via Ospedale 2 in Bolzano. This year would be the true beginning of our remarkable adventure. But why the name Bignami? The mythical gun-shop bears the name of Giorgina Bignami, mother/grandmother and wife of Battista Berti. She was the very first license holder, a tenacious and brave guardian of the activity, especially during the tragic and troubled years of the war.

In 1945, Battista came back from a very tough imprisonment, which had lasted more than two years. In the '50s, he started importing and selling brand names such as Tyrol, Franz Sodia and Sauer & Sohn (manufacturer also for Weatherby at that time), beyond the borders of the province.

Meanwhile, Franco, the eldest son of Battista, national athlete (with free rifle at 50 m. and several times Italian absolute champion) chose an even more stimulating shooting: the 3 positions big bore rifle (.308 Winchester) at 300 m. He obtained important international awards. Thanks to his knowledge and experience, Franco built important business relations, refined and meticulous research in performance, and definitely, a great specialization for the company. He pursued his great passion for ungulates hunting, which was traditionally part of central Europe.

More than 75 years have passed since that far 1937 and we can still proudly say that rifle hunting remains the cornerstone of the Bignami activity. The most important worldwide brands have always been sought for.

This being said, to sum up our activity we would use one key word only 'PASSION'!

A daunting passion for hunting, shooting and all that surrounds this fascinating universe. A passion that continues to pervade us, involving choices and programs today. A passion that has managed to transform an interesting activity into something more. Much more.

This is how it was for Battista Berti. He created a job out of his passion for hunting and shooting.

This is how it was for our memorable Franco. His sporting experience and endless hunting passion accompanied him until his very last moment in life, in 1975.

This is how it is for us now. All that Bignami deals with, like for instance archery, is the result of the personal passion of our grandson Marco, son of Franco.

This is how Bignami can be explained.

Carlo and Luciano, Marco and Clara, Achille and Alice Berti

Bignami today

We are very proud of our history, which explains our recent past. However, by being more realistic, we now want to take you through the Bignami universe - to introduce to you what the company actually is nowadays.

Let us, once again, bring to mind the Bignami philosophy, which, to date, remains the same: find the best and most suitable articles all over the world to feed the passion we have in common with all of our customers.

Our product range is split into six different areas according to the variety of choices named 'sectors'. Even though the sectors are separate, they are strongly related to each other.

Through browsing and consultation we could thus cross the entire world of hunting, rifle-scopes, guns or bow hunting, self defense and reloading. Simply explained, each sector is fed exclusively with the best products from all over the world.

We shall not list all the contents to be discovered through browsing, but we shall proudly point out the brands that represent the core of the wide selection of our product range.

Hunting: Bignami is present with historical brands such as: Sauer - a gun company with more than 260 years of history; Weatherby - a synonym of rifles whereby toughness is joined with exclusive calibers; CZ - the famed gun manufacturer with an excellent quality/price ratio. Not to name the fine guns collection brands such as Merkel or Dumoulin.

As concerns precision shooting, alongside the above mentioned Sauer and Weatherby, we include H-S precision, the international supplier for 'special corps'.

We add Ruger to the list of 'historical' brands, present with its products in the hunting, sports and defense sectors. You will also find other recent acquisitions in their own specific sectors.

Optics

The rifle-scope sector has always been special for Bignami. We have, at present, a number of exceptional proposals. Firstly, we are glad to distribute a brand that does not need any introduction, a synonym itself of 'scopes' for over 160 years: the Zeiss. Together with this cornerstone of optic technology and science, our list offers other brands that are equally valid despite not having the centenarian history of the Wetzlar company. The first namely Meopta, a solid worldwide reality manufacturer in the Czech Republic. This short, incomplete list does not exclude brands such as the US Bushnell, Weaver and the Australian Lightforce, plus the scopes coming from the far east, such as Nikko Stirling.

Archery is a sport reality that, over the years, has become increasingly important. It is now another core of our product offerings. The brands we distribute are the most renowned and sought after by archers. The list of international athletes who make use of competition products distributed by Bignami, is very long. We proudly confirm that in Italy there are no national athletes who do not make use of at least one component coming from the brands we distribute. To name but a few: Hoyt, PSE, Carbon express, Easton, Aurora, Booster, Bear, Win&Win and Elite.

Target Shooting is also a sector of huge satisfaction for Bignami. In this case too, the best Italian athletes of international level like Valentina Turisini and others, use products of our sales catalog. Walther and ELEY say it all.

Defense and Security. This sector is extremely complex. The huge number of products involved in this field have different purposes and are subject to specific legislations. In this sensitive field of defense and security, Bignami is present with brands such as Smith & Wesson, Walther, Sig Sauer, CZ, Ruger and Glock.

The Bignami offer, however, does not exclude products that, despite being in a "niche", are the best in their field and most performing in the entire handgun range. STI is the flagship of this group.

Reloading

In this short description, the world of reloading cannot be left out. When you expect to get maximum performance from your gun, there is only one way: reloading. Bignami knows how to accompany the novice as well as the experienced reloader through this fascinating sector. This equipment not only includes the basic tools of main brands such as RCBS and Hornady, but also components such as cases, powders, bullets and primers of the main world brands: Speer, Hodgdon, Federal, Nosler, Sierra, CCI et al. To support, and to allow to safely perform reloading, Bignami offers a complete range of manuals both on paper and in electronic format.

Bignami relies on a professional sales network to better distribute its wide range of products. To contact a dealer we have selected is a guarantee of security, expertise and professionalism. You will find our products distributed only by the best dealers.

The purpose of the prices published on our website is to allow the customer to be guided at best through the huge Bignami offer. These, however, are indicative, recommended retail prices, inclusive of VAT. Bignami does not take any responsibility for pricing errors. Please feel free to consult your retailer for more precise information on the updated retail pricing.