Italic script

The Italian scholar Niccolò de' Niccoli was dissatisfied with the lowercase forms of Humanist minuscule, finding it too slow to write.

In response, he created the Italic script, which incorporates features and techniques characteristic of a quickly written hand: oblique forms, fewer strokes per character, and the joining of letters.

In the past few decades, the italic script has been promoted in English-speaking countries as an easier-to-learn alternative to traditional styles of cursive handwriting.

[citation needed] Italics script is considered one of the best examples of Latin cursive writing, and had a great influence on the calligraphic styles that followed throughout Europe.

This period also gave birth to the first treatises on calligraphy: among them stands out "La Operina" by Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi (c.1475-c.1527).

Example page of the "Italique Hande" from a copy of A booke containing diuers sortes of hands... first published in 1570.
One of the innovations of Niccoli's Italic script was the major change to the Humanist minuscule a .