Italic type
![Arrighi's original italic typeface, c. 1527. At that time italic capitals had not yet been designed.](/Images/godic/202501/21/Arrighi_italic3306.png")
![Sample of Niccoli's cursive script, which developed into Italic type](/Images/godic/202501/21/Niccolo_de_Niccoli_italic_handwriting3306.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/21/F-tail.svg3306.png")
![Four ampersands in regular and italic styles.](/Images/godic/202501/21/Italic_ampersands3306.png")
In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, such fonts normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed text, or when quoting a speaker a way to show which words they stressed. One manual of English usage described italics as "the print equivalent of underlining".