Rialto dF
CAST · Giovanni De Faccio, Lui Karner · 1995
A book typeface rooted in humanistic calligraphy, drawn by Giovanni De Faccio and Lui Karner from 1995 and offered in two optical sizes for different point-size ranges.
About
Born from a collaboration between the Austrian Lui Karner and Venetian Giovanni De Faccio, the letterforms were drawn directly in digital format from humanistic models carried in the designers' hands and memory. The roman and italic relationship follows the convention established by Francesco Griffo for Aldus Manutius's 1501 Virgil octavo, with uppercase, numerals and punctuation used alongside the italic. Two optical subfamilies -- Piccolo for sizes up to 14pt and Grande for 16pt and above -- are supported by an extensive set of OpenType features developed by Karsten Luecke, including small capitals, oldstyle figures, swash characters, discretionary ligatures and multiple stylistic sets.
Classification
Letterforms drawn directly from humanistic calligraphic tradition, with a roman and italic relationship modelled on Francesco Griffo's italic for Aldus Manutius. The calligraphic origins and Renaissance Venetian references place it firmly in the humanist serif category.