Fonts in use in Florence

Fonts and More Font Related Information
1

Supplementary note of 28 May 2011

The content of Google Streetview changes from time to time. Sometimes that is because new views have been gathered and the old ones ore no longer available. Accordingly, some of the links may go to slightly different views, yet looking around often produces a picture showing the item to which I have referred.

Checking today I notice that the view of the inscription on the base of the statue of Dante is no longer available.

Also, the displays in the shop window of the la Rinascente department store have changed.

End of supplementary note of 28 May 2011

Supplementary note of 21 June 2011

I have today found that the view of the inscription on the base of the statue of Dante is available with a different link. The new link is included in a supplementary note within the original post.

End of supplementary note of 21 June 2011

Google Maps now has the Streetview facility for the Italian city of Firenze (the city being known in English as Florence).

I have been having a look and noticed interesting fonts being used in shop signs.

For example the following.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.775804,11.255493&spn=0.014068,0.034332&z=15&layer=c&cbll=43.76863,11.253546&panoid=YOHNnxOBAj4iFiM7HTSU2w&cbp=2,326.6511533113728,,1,4.422291114889093

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.766888,11.251675&panoid=up098i0PKnty6i4Oc37FrQ&cbp=2,146.22308704654264,,0,3.1624864789563887&ll=43.774069,11.253605&spn=0.014069,0.034332&z=15

Readers who find other interesting examples can generate the text for a link by clicking on the Link label that is at the very right just above the Streetview image display.

William Overington

7 November 2008

Supplementary note of 22 February 2011

There is a post by Dick Pape in the Style Art Font thread in the Gallery forum about identifying the font used in the sign for the ice cream shop as Almonte Snow.

http://forum.high-logic.com/viewtopic.php?p=10222#p10222

Thank you Dick.

If making a snow themed publication, some readers might like my Snow font.

http://forum.high-logic.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2515

William Overington

22 February 2011

2

For Example: Umberto

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.766838,11.251569&panoid=xX34qacHisA7yE5Eu6neYA&cbp=2,321.10836952517894,,0,5.962490994099427&ll=43.778004,11.254592&spn=0.02293,0.053515&t=h&z=15

Belwe Light BT by Bitstream Inc.

(Across the street from Almonte Snow.)

3

Thanks Dick.

I found the following web page.

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/belwe/light/

A nice font.

William

4

I was using Google Streetview to look at a view in Florence when I noticed a street sign and I zoomed in on it.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.774719,11.254721&spn=0.014068,0.034332&z=15&layer=c&cbll=43.767517,11.252785&panoid=WgnkBQx2IU-f4_btPSOnew&cbp=2,330.1410324155973,,3,-3.3249655689536124

This is just south of the river, near the Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge).

I noticed that a symbol for a museum seemed to be on the sign several times, together with some other symbols.

The Webdings font has a similar, though different, symbol from that used on the sign as a symbol for a museum, encoded as a G character.

I thought of the idea of trying to make a font of those symbols using artwork straight from street signs.

Yet this picture of the sign does not seem to be too clear. I am not sure quite why that is the case.

So I decided to try to find another sign with the logo, which I did, directly on the other side of the river over the Ponte Vecchio.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.7685,11.253462&panoid=_yR5-EjVg3HKJu2qDMVkHA&cbp=2,68.52920023418407,,3,1.2911025695776412&ll=43.782869,11.257296&spn=0.028133,0.068665&z=14

Incidentally using Streetview at present one cannot move directly from one side of the river to the other using the Ponte Vecchio, one needs to close the picture, reclick on the map and open another picture.

An interesting thing is that the lowest panel of the sign directs one to the “museo di storia della scienza”.

So I entered “museo di storia della scienza” in the search box on that page and found that marker A was for the museum, a short way along the riverbank.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.771249,11.256974&spn=0.007035,0.017166&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.767655,11.256009&panoid=NLPuQrJF9YzHrQYUkhKGGA&cbp=2,288.5669250135145,,0,-22.986744397433405

There was also a link to a webspace, which, upon selecting another link for English, lead to the following web page.

http://www.imss.fi.it/index.html

Zooming in to the special-event banner on the wall of the museum shows that it is about an exhibition named Galileo’s Telescope with that title set in capitals and small capitals with a proper apostrophe.

The http://www.imss.fi.it/index.html web page has a link to a web page about that exhibition.

Another picture from Florence, back at the location of the first link from this post, on the other side of the river, though one needs to turn clockwise by about 120 degrees, has a web address displayed on a sign at a construction site (one needs to use the zoom).

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.767517,11.252785&panoid=WgnkBQx2IU-f4_btPSOnew&cbp=2,114.10021733444567,,0,-10.424465595975554&ll=43.774719,11.254721&spn=0.014068,0.034332&z=15

William Overington

10 November 2008

5

I found the following use of graphics and fonts in the windows of a Florence department store.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.77324,11.254946&spn=0.003517,0.008583&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.77144,11.254462&panoid=vQ_CN9q2iO-jzeqSFfhblQ&cbp=2,94.3097375787051,,1,6.106614805349122

I can observe the words AUTUMN and la Rinascente, however I cannot decide what are the two words in the orange script.

The one is, possibly, jolie yet the other one possibly begins with gla and ends with sse, there being some letters in the middle as well. I am undecided whether the orange script is a font or is a specially drawn logo graphic.

William Overington

10 November 2008

6

The following is a link to an image of a notice next to the river, upstream from the centre of the city.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.780514,11.300383&spn=0.028134,0.068665&z=14&layer=c&cbll=43.766159,11.29656&panoid=qP47dKjZEnCrWuj62UQxVQ&cbp=2,129.14931780607878,,2,2.19438115977458

The words on the signs are translated as follows, using the Translation Plus program.

Restaurant the swan

Pizzeria the garden of the swan

I wonder if the logos are from a well-known font or whether they are in-house at the signmaker’s factory.

William Overington

14 November 2008

7

Nothing will be left to the local option – the government always wants to stifle individual creativity so everything must be the same. Likewise, the sign painters have learned to not be responsible for inappropriate designs so will ask for “guidance”…

There are standard symbol fonts available for every aspect of our lives so there are commissions, consultants and trade organizations who will be more than glad to make the decisions.

Everybody’s happy.

Obviously many Dining designs exist:

http://rapidshare.com/files/163764741/Eating_Signs.ttf

8

Thanks Dick.

Here is a link to an image with four fonts used within it.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.774433,11.256748&spn=0.003517,0.008583&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.772636,11.256268&panoid=_dGUmH0lCyCY0uIB5CJ4rw&cbp=2,153.50200858551273,,2,-3.638615894222235

Here is a link to an image from nearby to the previous one, with just one font used within it.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.774425,11.257027&spn=0.003517,0.008583&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.772629,11.256541&panoid=r3YXVza_TWSb_aJO6Zm01w&cbp=2,204.5973631165752,,3,-3.0101157650286092

William Overington

15 November 2008

9

I have been trying to proof those two links directly from the post at various times since I posted them but have not got them to work yet, though one did work to some extent though not properly.

It might be that the internet is slow at present, but I am wondering if anyone has got them to produce displays of using fonts.

William

10

The above links will proof at times, yet rarely I have found.

They were each zoomed in a lot and maybe that caused the problem.

So here are non-zoomed in versions and readers who so choose can zoom in themselves.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.774433,11.256748&spn=0.003517,0.008583&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.772636,11.256268&panoid=_dGUmH0lCyCY0uIB5CJ4rw&cbp=2,155.78326051300087,,0,-2.774095665953725

Zoom in on the sign with four fonts which includes the following.

Caffetteria

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.774425,11.257027&spn=0.003517,0.008583&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.772629,11.256541&panoid=r3YXVza_TWSb_aJO6Zm01w&cbp=2,205.2998007760527,,0,0.7672460639533732

Zoom in on the following.

Florence’s Secret

This seems to be more effective.

William Overington

17 November 2008

11

Besides the fonts what’s interesting to me is that every face in the crowds has been individually blurred… hope they do it mechanically…

12

Well, the face on a poster in the following link looks blurred.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.785715,11.246478&panoid=Uyf-TnH_0wFP5n8O_KJtUA&cbp=2,284.90825048002887,,0,-10.1524897298103&ll=43.789313,11.247447&spn=0.007032,0.017166&z=16

Yet the face on a copy of the same poster just down the road does not look blurred!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.785612,11.24654&panoid=wjFwnzqP_OoBc-LqELscyw&cbp=2,205.36105870409378,,0,-3.673528781681515&ll=43.789204,11.247511&spn=0.007033,0.017166&z=16

William Overington

17 November 2008

13

Off-topic note, yet related to this thread - hopefully some readers will find this post of interest.

Yesterday evening I saw a television programme on the United Kingdom television channel BBC4. Some BBC programmes are later broadcast on television channels around the world.

Travels with Vasari

Part one of two. Historian Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the art of Italy, asking why the country has created some of the best-loved works of art the world has ever seen. He begins his journey in the town of Arezzo, Tuscany, the birthplace of the world’s first art critic Giorgio Vasari.

It was a repeat. On BBC4 in the United Kingdom, Part 2 is due for broadcast on Wednesday 3 December 2008 at 9:00 pm with a repeat of Part 2 on Sunday 7 December 2008 at 7:00 pm.

In Google Streetview the outside of the enclosed Vasari Corridor is displayed as it passes high in the air over the Ponte Vecchio. The outside of parts of the Vasari Corridor is also displayed clearly in Google Streetview on each side of the River Arno.

Towards the end of the television programme, we, as viewers, are taken inside part of the enclosed Vasari Corridor. This is furnished like a long thin Art Gallery with pictures of self-portraits by artists over the centuries. Amongst his skills, Vasari was an architect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasari_Corridor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasari

This post is not about fonts, yet hopefully adds to the background of this thread.

William Overington

1 December 2008

14

Some readers might like to know that the programme is due to be broadcast again at 7 pm this evening, Saturday 27 December 2008, on the BBC4 television channel in the United Kingdom.

Part 2 is due for broadcast tomorrow at 7 pm on BBC4.

Each programme is for one hour.

William Overington

27 December 2008

15

Sorry, we don’t get BBC4 in Dallas Texas (or BBC3, or BBC2 or BBC1 for that matter).

16

Well, yes, I did wonder about posting the item bearing in mind that only some readers are in the United Kingdom and indeed not everybody in the United Kingdom has access to digital television channels.

However, I reasoned that if only one person were to enjoy viewing the programme as a result of reading my post then the post would be worthwhile.

As to whether anyone did watch the programme as a result of my post I do not know.

Here are links to some views of the Vasari corridor.

At the north side of the River Arno.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.769606,11.254721&spn=0,359.982834&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.7685,11.253462&panoid=_yR5-EjVg3HKJu2qDMVkHA&cbp=12,183.9492151864334,,0,-29.987499999999958

Over the Ponte Vecchio.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.768444,11.252768&spn=0,359.98292&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.767991,11.253115&panoid=0Vg5p4ODR7Fl48iGd-b7DQ&cbp=12,68.41085758514921,,0,-30.39137788047622

At the south side of the River Arno, crossing a road.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.767406,11.252575&spn=0,359.982834&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.767393,11.252681&panoid=5uR3VpqsBhlAeH-2U7am-w&cbp=12,92.237137456988,,0,-43.149999999999984

Some time ago, I had an idea about housing for people who need on-going nursing care so that they could nonetheless live with their families. It is that there be a housing estate where each house or bungalow has three doors, a front door, a second door and a nursing door, such that the nursing door links directly into a system of indoor corridors linked to a nursing centre.
I wrote about it on the web.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/housing.htm

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/housing.PDF

The pdf, which was produced sometime after the html version uses two of my own fonts. The pdf is A3 landscape format in the hope that printouts could form part of an exhibition.

Later, I sent in an e-petition to the Prime Minister.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/eutopia-housing/

Unfortunately this did not get enough signatories for a reply by the government.

I have since wondered whether the idea could perhaps be considered to become implemented in one or more of the estates of an eco-town.

http://ecotownsyoursay.direct.gov.uk/

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/ecotowns/

I have since become aware of the Vasari Corridor in the City of Florence in Italy. The indoor corridors of the housing estate would differ from the Vasari Corridor in that there would be many doorways from the indoor corridors, leading into the houses. However, my original idea was in terms of the indoor corridors of the housing estate being at ground level. However, maybe at least some of the corridors could be at first floor level. Maybe the nursing centre could have some corridors going from it at ground level and some at first floor level.

I am not an architect nor am I involved with the construction industry. I just thought of the idea and thought that it is a good idea. It would need experts in order to implement the idea.

William Overington

29 December 2008

17

:OT I believe this topic has gone too far astray…

18

Dick used a :OT smiley but I cannot get the quote facility to display it.

I have been trying to find some more examples of fonts being used in Florence, thus far I have only found the following. I am trying to find something more unusual.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.767662,11.252811&spn=0,359.991417&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.767393,11.252681&panoid=5uR3VpqsBhlAeH-2U7am-w&cbp=12,219.11491491767023,,1,-21.46417046452574

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.767282,11.253101&spn=0,359.991417&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.767313,11.252996&panoid=A0cVDY6LE-mK4Y8vYXF3Yw&cbp=12,185.10343949337846,,0,-5.570226273024991

William Overington

29 December 2008

19

I have just found two rather nice examples.

They are at diagonally opposite corners of the Piazza di Santa Croce in Florence.

The first is on the plinth of a statue of Dante. The date is 1865 so maybe it was erected to mark the six hundredth anniversary of Dante’s birth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighieri

Supplementary note of 21 June 2011

The original link, which is below this note, does not seem to work anymore.

Please try the following.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=43.768913,11.262279&spn=0.001809,0.004292&z=18&layer=c&cbll=43.768965,11.262069&panoid=DFwwZkU4B-8ouJXYCJc_cw&cbp=12,108.76,,0,-4.96

End of supplementary note of 21 June 2011

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.768955,11.26222&spn=0,359.991417&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.768849,11.262153&panoid=bIxT-p25iGURRq5yfx_2PQ&cbp=12,92.75805341728676,,3,-5.522817194076346

The second is on the sign of a shop.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.768902,11.260782&panoid=xQ0B46ENtCHaV89-YgDQzQ&cbp=12,224.84527656009072,,2,-2.953643300562693&ll=43.768909,11.260782&spn=0,359.991417&z=17

The Translation Plus program gives the translation of aggetti artistici in legno from Italian into English as being artistic projections in wood.

William Overington

29 December 2008

Edited on 21 June 2011 to add a supplementary note about the new link to the view of the statue of Dante.

20

It is cold and frosty here in England today, yet in Google Streetview it is still summer in Florence!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.775757,11.256568&panoid=fK1JtiDbi32O9gyEkQbRaw&cbp=12,115.58059428005447,,0,0.810138550102209&ll=43.775835,11.26075&spn=0,359.982834&z=16

I have seen somewhere a TrueType font like the font which is used in the CIAO-CIAO sign.

Moving along the road is the following.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.775846,11.256632&panoid=XjAhNKRdVR1gjQb23xSiwg&cbp=12,116.46091682107612,,0,0.1271704907891617&ll=43.775773,11.256566&spn=0,359.98292&z=16

The sign libreria pirola is in a sans serif typeface.

Continuing in the same direction is the following.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.776018,11.256758&panoid=IWZdWoYNM3qOOTcv3npfOQ&cbp=12,110.1350282700783,,0,-8.762456478690103&ll=43.776098,11.256824&spn=0,359.982834&z=16

In the same road, in the other direction, on the other side of the road, is the following.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.775262,11.256201&spn=0,359.982834&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.775172,11.256119&panoid=HvRl1fmxHFE5I_M68njBwQ&cbp=12,277.67028759569825,,2,-1.356867263082149

Searching on the web using information from the poster “Leonardo e Raffaello, per esempio” found the following, as well as other web pages.

http://www.arte.go.it/eventi/2008/e_2505.htm

http://www.palazzo-medici.it/eng/home.htm

http://www.mecenate.info/stampa.asp?id=1187

William Overington

31 December 2008