America’s most famous carver of inscriptions, including those at the John F. Kennedy Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, John Benson conceived Balzano (Italian for “bouncing”) as an upright script whose character would come from active individual strokes and letter shapes. He was particularly inspired by a page of pen-written letters by calligrapher Raphael Boguslav. As a result, Balzano features thin hairlines and pronounced vertical strokes with active terminals. Open counterforms and varying letter heights contribute to the vitality of this 1995 Adobe Originals release.

Although suitable for brief copy in larger text sizes, Balzano excels in display settings.