Traditional Italian cursive writing became formalised around 1940, and has since remained dominant in handwriting instruction in schools. Textbooks by major publishers, such as Giunti Editore, Erickson and Fabbri Editori, illustrate this model using a variety of lettering, drawings, and typefaces that share formal and structural features.
The typeface Pinocchio, designed by Gianni Marcolongo and released through his type foundry TrueBlue, is a good example of the this style as taught in primary schools. It was created as a set of educational fonts that faithfully recreate the handwriting style used in the school environment.
This is a vertical and continuous cursive style. Lowercase letters have elliptical foundational shapes, medium-length extensions, and entry strokes. The proportions and shapes of the letters may vary slightly in different publications, and in some cases square grids are used as an aid for lowercase writing. Similar to French and Portuguese traditional cursive writing, uppercase letters are quite narrow and very ornate.
