Alfabeti Modernisti - Type Specimens

Alfabeti Modernisti Type Specimens brings to light a forgotten heritage of twentieth-century typography. The project focuses on twenty-five typefaces recovered and reinterpreted in digital form-geometric, decorative, floral, at times vernacular alphabets that trace their roots back to the 1930s and 1940s, when Italian typography was experiencing a period of intense experimentation. The work stems from the research of Luca Lattuga, who over the course of more than ten years collected and catalogued wood and metal type. His efforts resulted in an archive that today becomes a valuable tool for designers and typographers. The CAST foundry has transformed this legacy into a new collection of fonts, available on both c-a-s-t.com and Adobe Fonts, making accessible resources that until recently risked remaining in obscurity. The publication of the specimen accompanies the volume presenting Lattuga's complete collection. With its approach that intertwines historical memory and contemporary design practice, Alfabeti Modernisti Type Specimens gives new voice to a little-explored chapter of Italian graphic culture. In this way, it becomes not only a book or a font library, but also a bridge between the typographic past and the future of design. By reviving these alphabets in digital form, the project highlights how type design is never solely about producing functional tools for communication. It is also about sustaining a dialogue between archival heritage and contemporary creativity, between what has been preserved and what can still be imagined. In doing so, Alfabeti Modernisti Type Specimens demonstrates the enduring relevance of historical Italian typography, reaffirming its capacity to inspire designers today and in the years to come.