Stadio Now
Zetafonts · Aldo Novarese (revival by Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini & Andrea Tartarelli; Cyrillic by Vika Usmanova) · 2021
A 2021 revival of Aldo Novarese's 1974 reverse-contrast sans, expanded by Zetafonts into a 26-style variable family covering text and display sizes.
About
Originally designed for the dry transfer brand R41 in 1974, Stadio employs the 'Italian' style in which horizontal strokes outweigh verticals, creating letters that are simultaneously sturdy and unsettling. Zetafonts rebuilt the design from specimens in Novarese's book Il Segno Alfabetico, extending it across twelve weight grades from Sottile to Weirdo, each with an italic, plus two variable fonts with weight and optical size axes. The revival supports Latin and Cyrillic scripts across 200 languages and won the PRINT Award for Typeface Design in 2021.
Classification
Stadio Now is classified as a display sans owing to its defining reverse contrast, where horizontal strokes are thicker than verticals, a style Novarese himself described as a 19th-century 'Italian' style. The family extends into text weights but its character is fundamentally display-oriented.