Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi

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Arrighi's italic typeface design, ca 1527. This elegant type letter is based on the Renaissance Italian handwritten script known as "cursiva humanistica". It inspired later French italic types.

Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi (1475-1527) was a papal scribe, and type designer in renaissance Italy. He began his career as a scribe at the Apostolic Chancery in 1515. His experience in calligraphy led him to create an influential pamphlet on handwriting in 1522 called La Operina, which taught italic type script in the chancery style. This work, a 32-page woodblock printing, was the first of several such publications.

He turned to printing in 1524 and designed his own italic typefaces for his work which were widely emulated. His letterforms were revived in the 20th century by designers such as Stanley Morison, Frederick Warde, Robert Slimbach (for example Adobe Jenson italic) and Jonathan Hoefler (in his Requiem Text typeface.) His last printing was dated shortly before the sack of Rome (1527), during which he was probably killed.