The design for Aurelia is based on the forms of Jenson, an Old Style typeface developed by Nicolas Jenson in 1470 which still influences type design today. Zapf gave Aurelia a bit of his own personal style and adapted it to the demands of modern technology. The family of typefaces was originally designed for use with the typesetting machines produced by the German company Dr.-Ing Rudolf Hell GmbH which was later merged with Linotype. The name Aurelia is a nod to the Roman emperor Aurelianus (214–275), who built the Via Aurelia in Italy. Aurelia is a robust and classic font, suitable for both text and headlines.