Nebiolo History Project

The Nebiolo company of Turin was Italy’s great type foundry on both a national and an international level for most of the 20th century until its closure in 1978. Founded in 1852, by the turn of the century Nebiolo successfully expanded as a major manufacturer of printing presses. It dominated the Italian market for printing machinery and type for handsetting until the end of commercial letterpress in the 1970s.

Today Nebiolo is especially remembered for its contributions in the field of type design. Its Studio Artistico, headed successively by Giulio Da Milano, Alessandro Butti and Aldo Novarese, released influential typefaces that shaped the history of Italian 20th-century graphic design. A lack of investments to embrace phototypesetting technology proved critical to the foundry’s survival.

A critical assessment of the Nebiolo heritage has been lacking since the dispersion of the company’s archives. Organised by the Nebiolo History Project in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino, this symposium – the first ever to address the story and relevance of the Turin foundry – will provide a timely overview of the most up-to-date research on hitherto underinvestigated aspects of modern typographic history.

The conference is open to the public for free and will be streamed online. The number of available seats is limited, so if you plan to attend in person please register on www.eventbrite.com.

To follow the conference live use these links:
Thursday 16 September: https://polito-it.zoom.us/j/83587543414
Friday 17 September/ https://polito-it.zoom.us/j/86541530775