Dateline Italia: I was told that the best letterer in toute Italia was Mauro Zennaro. So, the SVA Masters Workshop sought him out to give a class on Roman inscriptions. He also provided a priceless tour of the hotspots of lettering, from Piazza Minerva to Piazza del Popolo and a bunch of stops (and obelisks) in between. He is the designer of Angelica (for the Library Angelica), Pompei (for the city of Pompei, below), Farfa (for the city that gave us The Rape of the Sabine Women), and Equa. His lettering, seen on the website Scriptoria, is also exceptional–especially the elegant scripts shown above (Calligrafia per la copertina del volume di Seneca), based entirely on interpretations of history, and his own “iscrizioni” too. Thank you Mauro for the inspiration.
About Steven Heller
Steven Heller is the co-chair of the SVA MFA Designer /Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program, writes frequently for Wired and Design Observer. He is also the author of over 170 books on design and visual culture. He received the 1999 AIGA Medal and is the 2011 recipient of the Smithsonian National Design Award.View all posts by Steven Heller →