Ambrogio Sanelli is an Italian professional cutlery maker founded in 1864 in Premana, a village in the Italian Alps with a centuries-old ironworking tradition.
The knives are still forged in Premana today, and the professional SUPRA range, made from NITRO-B nitrogen stainless steel with HACCP-compliant colour-coded handles, has become a workhorse in UK butcheries, kitchens and fishmongers. Following a fresh delivery this month, our full Ambrogio Sanelli range is back in stock across every category, from 12 cm boning knives through 31 cm heavy butcher knives to specialist salmon slicers and chef accessories.
This article covers where Sanelli comes from, how the knives are made, the SUPRA colour system, and the four pieces every UK butcher should know about.
- 01A village called Premana
- 02From a Venetian blacksmith to a family knife-maker
- 03What "Made in Premana" actually buys you
- 04The SUPRA range and the colour-coded handle system
- 05Four Sanelli pieces every UK butcher should know
- 06How Sanelli sits next to Victorinox and F. Dick
- 07Frequently asked questions
A village called Premana
Premana is a small mountain village on the eastern side of Lake Como, tucked into the Italian Alps in the Alta Valsassina valley. It has been an ironworking town for centuries, thanks to iron ore mines in the upper valley, and today it is one of the most important cutlery and scissor-making districts in Italy. If you buy a professional Italian kitchen knife or a pair of Italian tailoring scissors, there is a very good chance the blade was ground in Premana.
The reason the trade concentrated here has more to do with geography than anything else. Iron in the ground, fast-flowing streams for water-driven wheels, and a community that pushed the craft from one generation to the next. Ambrogio Sanelli is the oldest of the Premana cutlery names still in operation.
From a Venetian blacksmith to a family knife-maker
The company was founded in 1864 by Ambrogio Sanelli, who had trained as a blacksmith in Venice before returning north to set up his own workshop in Premana. What began as a one-man forge making blades for the local community grew steadily, first supplying Italian markets, then exporting across Europe. The business has passed from father to son through the generations and is still family-run today, operating from its historic Premana facility.
"Reliable, high-quality knives" is the goal, and everything about the manufacturing approach, from steel selection to final sharpening, is oriented around that one job. Ambrogio Sanelli
What "Made in Premana" actually buys you
Sanelli's professional SUPRA range is built around three deliberate choices, and it is worth understanding each one because they show up on the workbench every day.
NITRO-B nitrogen stainless steel (grade 1.4916)
Adding nitrogen to the alloy lets Sanelli reduce the carbon percentage without losing hardness or edge holding. The practical result is a blade that keeps a clean cutting edge under heavy use and shrugs off the corrosion that hits high-carbon knives in a wet butchery environment. It is one of the reasons SUPRA knives cope well with cold rooms, wash-down and daily sharpening.
Piece-by-piece laser-controlled sharpening
Every blade is finish-ground under laser control rather than being run through a blanket process, so the edge geometry is consistent across the range. Each knife carries a laser-printed logo, product code and batch number, which matters if you ever need to trace a specific piece or reorder a matched set.
SEBS thermoplastic elastomer handles
The handle material is soft-grip, dishwasher safe, resistant to knocks, corrosive agents and high temperatures. It bonds seamlessly to the blade with no join for bacteria to sit in, which is the point of the design and what makes the range NSF certified. Sanelli's manufacturing operates under an ISO 9001 quality management system.
The SUPRA range and the colour-coded handle system
SUPRA is Sanelli's flagship professional line, and it covers essentially every knife shape a working butchery, kitchen or fish counter needs. Butcher knives from 16 cm through 31 cm, boning knives from 12 cm through 18 cm in stiff, flexible and semi-flexible variants, narrow boning knives, cleavers, salmon slicers, mincing knives, field dressing knives, paring sets, spatulas and dough scrapers. It is one of the broadest professional ranges made in Europe.
Alongside the standard black-handled SUPRA line, the SUPRA Colore variant uses the international HACCP colour-coding system to reduce cross-contamination between different foods and prep areas. One colour, one job.
The colours run: red for raw meat, yellow for cooked meat and poultry, blue for fish and seafood, green for fruit and vegetables, white for bread and dairy, and brown for cooked foods. If you already run colour-coded chopping boards, matching your knife handles closes the loop and makes your HACCP paperwork much easier to defend at inspection.
Four Sanelli pieces every UK butcher should know
Our full Ambrogio Sanelli range is currently in stock, from small trimming knives through to heavy butcher blades, dough scrapers, salmon slicers, spatulas and paring sets. Below are the four workhorses that we would put in a working butcher's hand first. Every piece here is available, and if you are kitting out a shop or restocking after a run, the wider range is one link away.
SUPRA Butcher Knife 31cm, Black
A long, wide, heavy blade for breaking down whole carcasses, splitting shoulders and portioning heavy primal cuts. If you need one knife to do the biggest jobs on the block, this is it.
SUPRA Boning Knife, Curved Flexible 15cm, Black
The knife that lives in your hand. Curved, flexible, purpose-built for following bone contours through lamb, poultry and pork. The one to hand a new starter on day one.
SUPRA Butcher Knife 18cm, Red
A mid-size butcher knife on the HACCP-coded red handle for raw meat. The same knife is stocked in yellow, blue, green and black. Colour-code the block, close the audit gap.
SUPRA Salmon Slicer 32cm, Black
A long, narrow, flexible blade for clean single-pass slices through smoked or fresh salmon, tuna and other large-format fish. Also earns its keep on air-dried hams and larger cured cuts.
The range on the site goes wider than these four: 12 cm through 18 cm narrow boning knives, curved and stiff boning blades, mincing knives with mezzaluna-style single blades, field dressing knives, spatulas, dough cutters, and a paring knife set for kitchen prep. See the full Ambrogio Sanelli collection here.
How Sanelli sits next to Victorinox and F. Dick
The three professional cutlery brands most butchers weigh up are Sanelli (Italian), Victorinox (Swiss) and F. Dick (German). None is objectively better than the others; they solve the same problem with different priorities.
SANELLI. Leans toward hand-finished Italian craft. NITRO-B nitrogen steel, soft SEBS handles, laser-controlled sharpening, and a very broad SUPRA range that covers every specialist shape. The value for money at this level of finish is where it wins.
VICTORINOX. The Swiss workhorse. Fibrox handles, X50CrMoV15 stainless steel, dependable across every task, dominant globally in professional kitchens. Very hard to fault as an all-round choice. See our Victorinox range here.
F. DICK. German engineering. Heavier blades, harder steels on some lines, extensive use in traditional slaughterhouses and abattoirs where a substantial knife suits the work. See our F. Dick range here.
Plenty of working butchers run all three, choosing by task. Sanelli fills the "hand-finished Italian professional" slot in that mix, and the SUPRA colour system gives it a real edge in HACCP-heavy environments.
The complete Ambrogio Sanelli range
Every knife, every size, every colour. Trade pricing, UK mainland delivery, free on orders over £75.
Shop Ambrogio Sanelli →Frequently asked questions
Where are Ambrogio Sanelli knives made?
Every Ambrogio Sanelli knife is made in Premana, a village in the Italian Alps on the eastern side of Lake Como, where the company has been forging blades since 1864.
What is the SUPRA range from Ambrogio Sanelli?
SUPRA is Sanelli's flagship professional cutlery line. Blades in NITRO-B nitrogen stainless steel, semi-polished finish, laser-controlled sharpening, and SEBS thermoplastic handles that are dishwasher-safe and food-safety compliant. SUPRA Colore is the same range with HACCP colour-coded handles.
What steel does Ambrogio Sanelli use?
The SUPRA range uses NITRO-B nitrogen stainless steel (grade 1.4916). Adding nitrogen to the alloy allows a lower carbon percentage without losing edge retention, which improves corrosion resistance for wet butchery and cold-room environments.
Are Sanelli knives suitable for professional butchery?
Yes. SUPRA is designed specifically for professional use, is NSF certified on both the standard and colour-coded lines, and is manufactured under an ISO 9001 quality management system. The range covers every knife shape used in a working butchery from boning through to heavy carcass work.
What do the colours on Sanelli knife handles mean?
They follow the international HACCP colour-coding standard used across food service. Red is raw meat, yellow is cooked meat and poultry, blue is fish and seafood, green is fruit and vegetables, white is bread and dairy, and brown is cooked foods. The point is to stop cross-contamination between food groups.
Are Ambrogio Sanelli knives dishwasher safe?
The SEBS handles are dishwasher-safe. That said, most professional users hand-wash and dry knives immediately after use to protect the edge and prolong sharpening intervals, regardless of what the handle can tolerate.
Prices correct at the time of writing and may change. Always check current product pages for the latest pricing and availability.
