(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
I love Leonardo fountain pens. I reviewed a Momento Zero awhile back, and subsequently I bought another Momento Zero in Hawaii resin. I suspect more Leonardo pens are in my future.
Although I much prefer the shape of the Momento Zero, I kept returning to Casa della Stilografica to gaze at the beautiful resin of the Furore in Deep Purple. I was especially entranced with the model with rose gold trims. After repeated visits, I finally pulled the trigger and splurged on the Furore with a 14k rose gold stub nib (1.3mm).
The pen arrived in record time from Casa della Stilografica. I couldn’t help from exclaiming, “Fra-jee-lay!” when I saw the package (you know, A Christmas Story). It was a box from Italy after all. And, apparently, “Furore” is pronounced “Foo-róh-ray,” so I was basking in Italian pronunciation anyway. The Furore box looks like an Italian countryside--floral and colorful.
I love it when I open a new fountain pen and gasp. I gasped upon seeing the Furore’s purple resin. The purple is dark in some places and sparkles in others with lighter purple flecks. You can arrange the cap so the lighter purple flecks align.
Or you can cap the pen so there are alternate dark and light portions.
Usually I’m OCD about getting pen patterns aligned, but with the Furore, I like having alternating light and dark patterns.
The barrel is engraved with “Leonardo Officina Italiana” and the pen number, mine is No. 327.
The pen is cigar-shaped, though the ends are much narrower than, say, a Montblanc 149. In fact, I might call the Furore “torpedo-shaped.”
The rose-gold trims are lovely and complement the purple perfectly. The clip has a tiny roller on it, making it easy to clip the pen onto a notebook or shirt pocket. Two rings adorn the cap and two more adorn the top and bottom of the barrel.
The pen is a cartridge/converter filler. Like other Leonardo pens, you can fill the converter by removing the blind cap on the bottom of the barrel so that it functions more like a piston.
Or, you can remove the barrel to expose the entire converter. I love Leonardo converters. They are well made and sturdy--far superior to the cheap plastic converters that come with so many other fountain pens.
The 14k rose-gold nib is glorious with the simple Leonardo branding and a generous 1.3mm stub.
The feed offers excellent ink flow, and the stub has nice line variation.
It’s a satisfying, smooth, wet nib.
I honestly can’t tell a difference between the gold stub nib and the steel stub I have on my Leonardo Momento Zero Hawaii. That’s how good the steel nibs are. I suppose the gold nib might have a little more give to it, but, frankly, if you are torn between gold and steel, I think the steel nibs are just as good as the gold.
I purchased my Leonardo Furore from Casa della Stilografica. You can get this pen in various trims--gold, rose gold, and HT (rhodium), and you can choose steel or 14k nibs. A Furore with a steel nib costs €145.90 (= $161.29 at current conversion rates) and the gold nib costs €309.24 (= $341.96 at current conversion rates). I highly recommend Casa della Stilografica. They have all the varieties of Leonardo pens (unlike many American dealers who have more limited options), plus, their customer service is top notch.
My Leonardo Furore in Deep Purple is one of my happy pens. What I mean by that is this is a pen that makes me happy when I look at it and even happier when I use it. It’s a color that delights me, and the stub nib suits my writing style perfectly.
(I purchased the Leonardo Furore in Deep Purple with my own funds.)
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