For many years, Luca Lattuga of Anonima Impressori has been collecting and cataloguing modernist wood type (and some metal type) produced in Italy, which were very popular in the 1930s. Alongside Nebiolo’s bestsellers such as Neon, Italy saw the emergence of a plethora of original wood type designs. Often created by amateurs rather than professional type designers, these typefaces followed the European trend towards geometric lettering and can be seen as a local expression of vernacular typography.
Known today as “rationalist” typefaces (since the term “modernist” has never found favor among Italian critics and historians), they were widely used in advertisements, leaflets, posters, as well as on title pages, book covers, and magazine mastheads. While the Fascist regime promoted geometric letterforms — cunningly adopting the most advanced Art Deco trends in architecture and graphics — these typefaces enjoyed popularity across all levels of Italian society. They were not perceived as symbols of the regime and remained in use well into the 1960s.
Luca will present his findings in a book to be published by Lazy Dog Press in 2026. To support his research into these forgotten types, CAST has created digital revivals of the best designs Luca has uncovered. These revivals, released as Alfabeti Modernisti, are now available as part of CAST’s typeface collection and can also be accessed on Adobe Fonts. The collection was designed by a team of CAST members and collaborators, following a faithful and respectful approach to the original sources.
Three members of CAST will introduce the collection and present their revival work, focusing on the small changes that have been made to the original design in order to produce digital fonts that meet the expectations of contemporary users.