Montegrappa’s love for opera reconfirmed with the Barber of Seville

To capture the spirit of Rossini’s masterwork, Montegrappa has employed ancient diecasting techniques. The pen begins with a sculpture meticulously hand-fashioned by an artist over a period of many months, ensuring that the pens which result from the effortare works of art in their own right. To capture the details and finesse of the sculpture, Montegrappa works precious metals with the lost wax casting technique, the emergent form finished by hand. Like a theatrical set, the barrel is decorated with a view of late 18th Century Seville, represented by the city’s Giralda bell tower and the Golden Tower. Montegrappa’s sculptor called on the Moorish style of Seville’s ancient buildings, which inspired the unusual arch shape of the end of the barrel. Decorating the cap are scenes from the opera, with Figaro, guitar in hand, appearing beneath the balcony of Don Bartolo’s house, singing the most famous aria of the opera, “Largo al Factotum”. The cap top on the silver fountain pen and roller ball versions is embellished with a silver azulejo, the distinctive Andalusian tile that still decorates the most famous buildings in Seville, while motifs taken from the azulejo adorn the clip.

To represent the starry night sky of the opera’s first act, Montegrappa employed fine blue celluloid, with mother-of-pearl and glitter highlights. The white gold nib with yellow gold decorations on the silver fountain pen, and the yellow gold nib with white gold decorations on the gold and gem-set versions, are engraved with a grated window of Don Bartolo’s house, from which Rosina listens to Count Almaviva’s heartfelt serenade.

Each pen in the “Invito a Il Barbiere di Siviglia” Limited Edition comes in a gift box that evokes shapes, colours and scenes from the opera: the white of Seville’s old buildings, the famous colonnade of the Alcazar courtyard and the azulejo tile on the top of the gift box.