On that day, Italian printer Aldo Manuzio could have exclaimed like Russian writer Nina Berberova: “Italic is mine.” And he would have been right, as the font invented by engraver Francesco Griffo became the property of Manuzio, as the Venetian Senate granted to him a 10-year-old license for exclusive use of Italic type. The font imitating, as people believed, Petrarch’s handwriting featured a clear incline. The letters looked to be running somewhere. That is why it is called cursiv in Russia (derived from Latin cursus /run/). The word came to Russia through Germany. Both the British and French call the font Italic directly referring to its origin. As for the humorists, they talk about the influence of the Tower of Pisa. They are uneducated people, as Pisa has never been a part of the Republic of Venice.