(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
[Santini Italia] is an Italian brand that I was unaware of until recently. Headquartered in Lombardy, Santini makes acrylic and ebonite fountain pens, and all the parts for the pens are made in house, including their 18k nibs and ebonite feeders.
Late in 2020, I read a post or saw an Instagram photo of a Santini pen. Curious, I looked at the website and read about their nibs. I was especially intrigued by the fact that they make their nibs themselves and they offer flexy versions in nib sizes beyond the usual fine, medium, and broad. You can get flexy stubs, cursive italics, and even a "superflexy" nib. Nibs come in 18k yellow gold, solid rose gold, rhodium-plated gold, and even solid white gold upon request. Currently Santini offers nibs in sizes 5 and 6, but a number 8 is on the way.
Being one of the most indecisive people on planet earth, I struggled to choose a pen. Did I want acrylic or ebonite? Which color(s)? The only thing I was certain about was that I wanted a flexy stub nib. I finally decided on an ebonite pen called the Libra Caribbean, but to my dismay, it was sold out. For weeks, I visited the website daily to check for upcoming ebonite editions, but I didn't see any colors I liked as much as the Caribbean. Finally, I purchased one of the acrylic pens. But the next morning, a new color was announced: the Libra Voyager. I contacted customer support, which consists of one woman named Katrina who apparently never sleeps (I contacted her multiple times to ask questions and she was on the chat within a minute, no matter what time it was in Italy). She promptly switched my order to the Voyager and a couple of weeks later, the pen was at my house.
Hoo boy! When I opened the box, I was treated to some beautiful packaging: a black engraved box with bright turquoise ribbon.
Inside I found a warranty card, a pamphlet introducing Santini pens, and a page written with my pen to test the nib.
And then I saw my pen--it was stunning.
Voyager is made of ebonite with swirls of turquoise, blue, black, and magenta. Just look at the patterns on this pen and those swirly finials:
The trims on the pen are bronze. The clip has a roller ball on the end, but it is a stiff clip. I can slip it onto paper, but it might be difficult to clip it to a shirt pocket.
There's a large cap ring engraved with "Santini Italia" in cursive script. The raised lip of the ring is engraved with tiny vertical lines. The piston knob is separated from the body with a plain bronze ring.
The cap unscrews/screws with three twists--easy on and off. The limited edition number is engraved to the right of the clip. Mine is number 15 out of 33.
The body of the pen is tapered at the top and bottom with a slightly thicker barrel. The finials are conical. This is a large pen, measuring 145mm/5.7 inches capped, 135mm/5.3 inches uncapped, and 173mm/6.8 inches posted. It weighs 31 grams un-inked. The grip is 11.4mm at its narrowest and is very comfortable between your fingers. It's slightly hour-glass shaped and flares out closest to the nib so your fingers won't slip. You can see in the third photo below how the Libra Voyager compares in size with an Opus 88, a Leonardo Furore, a Pilot Custom 823, and a Lamy 2000.
The Libra Voyager is a piston-filler with a ratcheting sound that alerts you when you've filled the pen completely. It works smoothly and holds a good quantity of ink.
Voyager comes with a solid 18k rose gold nib (it is not plated). It is decorated with scroll work, a large "S", the date 1988, and the gold content. It's a beautiful, classic looking nib.
My nib is a flexy stub with an ebonite feed. Before inking the pen, I took macro photos of the nib, as I always do, to check the tine alignment. Unfortunately, the tines are slightly misaligned, which is disappointing. I hoped that I wouldn't notice the misalignment while writing, but I can. The nib hard starts occasionally and there's some skipping on downstrokes. If I can get over my chickenhood, I might try to realign the tines myself.
Aside from this, the nib is juicy (just like I like them), writes (mostly) smoothly, and has just the right amount of flex. It's bouncy when you write without flex, but just a tiny bit of pressure gives you excellent line variation. I did not attempt to flex the nib to its maximum, but when flexed, the line is roughly 1mm. Unflexed it is 0.5mm.
The pen is very well balanced. I wrote a six-page letter without any fatigue. I love how it makes my handwriting look, with good line variation, shading, and consistent letter size. The ink used in these examples is Robert Oster Tranquility.
Santini Italia [Classic Ebonite] fountain pens cost €359 (=$435 depending on exchange rates) with free shipping world wide. Their [acrylic pens] are priced at €259 (=$314), and there's a [faceted ebonite line] that ranges between €500 and €550 (=$606 and $667). They also make several limited edition pens that are created with a variety of materials, including enamel and overlays.
Some collectors have wondered why there's a €100 difference between the acrylic models and the classic ebonite models. Isn't ebonite just hard rubber? Why pay a premium for it? As it turns out, there's ebonite and there's ebonite. In other words, the kind of ebonite Santini uses is "high quality certificate German ebonite," and it is, therefore, more expensive. I absolutely think it is worth it.
I am thrilled with my Santini Libra Voyager. The pen is exquisitely beautiful and the workmanship is top notch. The ebonite warms to my hand and the pen is a comfortable writer. I love the flexy stub nib except for those slightly misaligned tines. I highly recommend Santini Italia to you, especially if you want to try some unique in-house nibs.
One thing to keep in mind if you do decide to purchase a fountain pen from Santini, is that the popular ebonite models sell out lightning fast. This is because they make small runs of pens (33 pieces in each ebonite color). If you see an ebonite pen you want, buy it promptly. If there's one that is listed as "coming soon," contact customer service to reserve it.
(I purchased the Santini Libra Voyager with my own funds.)
