corsivo

Corsivo is the term used in Italian typography for the italic style of type. In general usage, corsivo refers to text that is slanted to the right and often features altered letterforms. It is used to indicate emphasis, to distinguish foreign words, to mark book titles, or to show terminology or names within running text. In many languages, the style is functionally equivalent to italic in English.

The corsivo originated in Renaissance Italy around the turn of the 16th century; Aldus Manutius in Venice commissioned Francesco Griffo to cut a new italic font to complement the roman type used by printers. The aim was to save space and to give scholarly texts a distinct appearance. Through the 16th century, italics spread across Europe and became a standard part of typography.

In modern typography, corsivo is a font style available in nearly all typefaces. It can be true italics or oblique variants; true italics modify the shapes of letters, while oblique variants simply slant the existing forms.

In digital contexts, italic text can be produced with CSS font-style: italic, or the HTML elements em and i, which convey emphasis and semantic meaning respectively.

Differences between italic and oblique fonts exist: italic fonts have distinct letterforms as well as slant, whereas oblique fonts are only slanted. The choice affects readability and style in different languages.