In the years following World War Two, the Bernardelli company in Italy made an attempt to enter the full-power pistol market with a simple blowback 9mm Parabellum design. They basically scaled up their existing .32/.380 pocket pistol designs to the larger cartridge, and actually designed this new pistol to safely fire (at leas tin limited amounts) the 9mm Lungo cartridge, a high velocity 9x19mm loading developed for the Beretta M38 submachine gun.

Only about 85 of these pistols were ever made, as they were a commercial and military failure. Two main versions were made; one hammer fired and one striker fired, with sub-types of each. These were made simultaneously, presumably in hopes of the option provoking more interest than if only one type were available.