Bembo

Bembo is a serif typeface named after the 16th‑century scholar Pietro Bembo. The design draws on late 15th‑century Italian Renaissance letter forms cut by Francesco da Bologna (Francesco Griffo) for the Aldine Press, and it became widely associated with the humanist typography of that era. The contemporary Bembo, however, was created in the 20th century as a revival.

In 1929, the Monotype Corporation commissioned a revival of these classical proportions, with Stanley Morison overseeing the project. The goal was to provide a readable, elegant roman and italic that captured the spirit of the original Griffo cuts while performing well in modern printing and typesetting. The resulting face was named Bembo, in homage to Pietro Bembo, who helped popularize the Aldine style.

Características include old‑style serif characteristics, moderate stroke contrast, bracketed serifs, and a refined, rounded geometry. The letterforms emphasize readability in body text, with relatively tall x‑height and open counters that contribute to legibility at smaller sizes. The italics retain a calligraphic influence, contrasting with the roman in a balanced manner.

The Bembo family has been released in multiple weights and variants by several type foundries, with digital versions commonly including regular, italic, bold, and condensed forms. It has enjoyed widespread use in book publishing, editorial design, and academic typography, prized for its classical elegance and legibility. Bembo remains one of the enduring staple faces of modern typography, frequently chosen for long passages of text and for projects seeking a timeless, refined look.