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Pistola

Font info

Pistola is a unique slab serif distinguished by reversed contrast, heavy rounded serifs and a big x-height: a great face for suggestive titles and short texts. Inspiration for Pistola came from the improbable proportions and surreal features of the characters created by Italian cartoonist Benito Jacovitti (1923–1997).

The Pistola family includes 48 cuts arranged into two subfamilies: Pistola and Pistola Comic, with the latter featuring outlines and outer shadows. Each subfamily comes in four widths — Pistola Compressed, Pistola Condensed, Pistola and Pistola Extended; and three weights: Pistola Regular, Pistola Medium and Pistola Bold – all with corresponding italics. 

Designer

Valerio Monopoli Piero Beninato

Supported languages

Afrikaans, Albanian, Asu, Basque, Bemba, Bena, Breton, Catalan, Chiga, Colognian, Cornish, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Embu, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Galician, German, Gusii, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Kabuverdianu, Kalenjin, Kamba, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lower Sorbian, Luo, Luxembourgish, Luyia, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Malagasy, Maltese, Manx, Meru, Morisyen, North Ndebele, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Nyankole, Oromo, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Rombo, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Sango, Sangu, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Serbian, Shambala, Shona, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss German. Taita, Teso, Turkish, Upper Sorbian, Uzbek (Latin), Volapük, Vunjo, Walser, Welsh, Western Frisian, Zulu

Production years

2025-2026

Additional info

Pistola is a tribute to Cocco Bill, Jacovitti’s best known character and a brilliant parody of the classic Western genre that first appeared in 1957 and remained in print for over forty years. He is a formidable sharpshooter but also a brave defender of the law with a heart of gold. And together with his penchant for chamomile tea instead of whisky, these peculiarities put him in stark contrast to both traditional, straight-faced comics heroes and the grim spaghetti western cowboys. 

The name ‘Pistola’ (revolver) comes from Cocco Bill‘s signature catchphrase ‘Mondo pistola!’, a mannerly exclamation of surprise perfectly suited for a gunslinger who is simply too polite to swear. This same lighthearted irony is embedded in Pistola’s design: its rounded terminals and fluid curves giving the letterforms an unmistakable touch. 

The Pistola family includes Pistola Comic, the subfamily featuring outlines and outer shadows. Engineered for layered typesetting, these Comic cuts align precisely with their core counterparts, enabling designers to create seamless overlaps.

Styles

SemiExtended Regular, SemiExtended Regular Italic, SemiExtended SemiBold, SemiExtended SemiBold Italic, SemiExtended ExtraBold, SemiExtended ExtraBold Italic • SemiExtended Comic Regular, SemiExtended Comic Regular Italic, SemiExtended Comic SemiBold, SemiExtended Comic SemiBold Italic, SemiExtended Comic ExtraBold, SemiExtended Comic ExtraBold Italic • Regular, Regular Italic, SemiBold, SemiBold Italic, ExtraBold, ExtraBold Italic • Comic Regular, Comic Regular Italic, Comic SemiBold, Comic SemiBold Italic, Comic ExtraBold, Comic ExtraBold Italic • SemiCondensed Regular, SemiCondensed Regular Italic, SemiCondensed SemiBold, SemiCondensed SemiBold Italic, SemiCondensed ExtraBold, SemiCondensed ExtraBold Italic • Comic SemiCondensed Regular, Comic SemiCondensed Regular Italic, Comic SemiCondensed SemiBold, Comic SemiCondensed SemiBold Italic, Comic SemiCondensed ExtraBold, Comic SemiCondensed ExtraBold Italic • Condensed Regular, Condensed Regular Italic, Condensed SemiBold, Condensed SemiBold Italic, Condensed ExtraBold, Condensed ExtraBold Italic • Comic Condensed Regular, Comic Condensed Regular Italic, Comic Condensed SemiBold, Comic Condensed SemiBold Italic, Comic Condensed ExtraBold, Comic Condensed ExtraBold Italic

OpenType Features

Ligatures

Italic shapes (ss01)

Simmetric U (ss02) Loopy Q (ss03)

Dices (ss04)

Alternata W and z (ss05, ss06)

Manicules and arrows

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