TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Wed Nov 20 11:42:55 EST 2024

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ABOUT

Nebiolo

In 1878, Giovanni Nebiolo bought a foundry from Giacomo Narizzano. In 1889, the Levi brothers joined this venture to form Nebiolo&Co. After 1899, several other foundries were absorbed by Nebiolo, and for some time, the company was called Società Augusta Torino, but it reverted to Nebiolo&Co in 1917. Based in Turin, type design started in the 1930s, first under the direction of painter Giulio da Milano, then from 1936 under Alessandro Butti, and from 1952 under the guidance of Aldo Novarese. It was Italy's premier foundry of the 20th century. It closed its typography department in 1975, and went bankrupt in 1978, when Fiat took over. In 1990, the foundry was taken over by Fruttiger AG in Münchenstein. Their most famous font families include Eurostile (1962), Microgramma (1952), Torino (1908) and Stop (1971). Others worth mentioning are Vittorio (before 1920), Neondi (1935, da Milano), Resolut (1937, Brünnel), Landi Echo (1939, Butti), Veltro (script, 1931), Veltro Nero, Scritto a Lapis (script). Americana (ca. 1945) was a great flowing script later revived by Rebecca Alaccari as Pendulum (2005, Canada Type). Canada Type is doing further digitizations including Bella Donna (Rondine, 1948), Gala (Neon from 1935-1938) and Swanson (Cigno, 1954).

Nebiolo was not averse to copycat design. Christian Schwartz writes: The Etruschi from the Nebiolo specimen is an exact copy of Schelter&Giesecke's Grotesk, specifically the Halbfette weight (what we would call Medium). This typeface first appeared in the late 1890s and was shown in S&G's specimens at least until 1918. Schwartz refers to Etrusco or Etruschi from ca. 1920. That typeface was revived and expanded as Etrusco Now in 2020 by Cosimo Pancini and Mario De Libero at Italian Type.

Cairoli was originally cast by Italian foundry Nebiolo in 1928, as a license (?) of a design by Wagner & Schmidt, known as Neue Moderne Grotesk. Its solid grotesque design (later developed as Aurora by Weber and Akzidenz-Grotesk by Haas) was extremely successful---it anticipated the versatility of sans serif superfamilies thanks to its range of weights and widths, while still retaining some eccentricities from end-of the century lead and wood type. In 2020, Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini and Mario De Libero revived Nebiolo's Carioli (1928) as Cairoli Classic and Cairoli Now at Italian Type / Zetafonts. They extended the original weight and width range and developing both a faithful Classic version and a Now variant. The Cairoli Classic family keeps the original low x-height range, very display-oriented, and normalizes the design while emphasizing the original peculiarities like the hook cuts in curved letters, the high-waisted uppercase R and the squared ovals of the letterforms. Cairoli Now is developed with an higher x-height, more suited for text and digital use, and adds to the original design deeper inktraps and round punctuation, while slightly correcting the curves for a more contemporary look. Cairoli Variable has a weight and width axis.

Caratteri Nebiolo (ca. 1956) is one of their last specimen books--we list all the types found in it. Specimen book from 1928: Societa Nebiolo Torino Caratteri e Fregi Tipografici.

This file by Klingspor shows all the types ever made by Nebiolo.

Catalog of digital typefaces that were made by various foundries based on Nebiolo designs. Another digital catalog of commercial Nebiolo typefaces. Another page with digital typefaces based on Nebiolo.

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INTERNAL LINKS
Extinct 20th century foundries ⦿ Type design in Italy ⦿