Rolling Stone, No. 238, May 5, 1977

Dattilo in the 70s

Dattilo was the last great Nebiolo typeface by Aldo Novarese. I first saw it in brochures and a specimen book at the Drupa trade fair in 1977. Delighted to find a 20th century Egiziano, I tried to order fonts, but Nebiolo did not respond. So, Jim Parkinson made a quick display font—a two-inch film strip for the Photo Typositor.

That was for a cover story in Rolling Stone, with an Annie Leibovitz pictures of Mark Fidrych, baseball’s young star.

When I tried to visit the foundry in Torino later that year, the company was still in business, but the design studio was closed, and Aldo and his team were gone.

With the sans serif companion typeface, Forma, now revived in five sizes and five weights by David Jonathan Ross, it’s only a matter of time before we see a digital Dattilo.