Pens of Note

Delta - Dolcevita

Founded in 1982, Delta remained a relatively young pen company. In the years of operation, the company produced a wide line of pens. Some are iconic in terms expressing the style of the classic Italian fountain pen. The Dolcevita is such a pen. I spend a fair amount of time in Italy, so it is fitting that I have the Delta Dolcevita in my collection.

La Dolcevita means the sweet life. And yes, life is sweeter with this pen! It is turned from a solid bar of orange resin. Nothing molded about this pen. The solid black cap with the rich orange marbled resin makes for a stunning pen. Over the years the company produced various versions providing options in terms of size of pen. The pen was produced in Stout, Oversized, Mid-Sized and Mini. There is a Dolcevita for every writer's preference.

The black cap, as a contrasting colour, gives the pen a very solid look. I also have the Dolcevita Oro, where the cap and the body are in orange resin, but I must admit, I find the black orange a great and prefered colour combination.

Near the bottom of the cap, the bands are sterling silver, or, as with the one of the models that I have, in vermeil which is gold plate on sterling silver. I like the look of the gold plate on sterling silver with the orange body. The pattern on the ring is said to be a pattern found in old paintings from Pompei.

The pen wass a regular production line, however, Delta numbers each pen. Nice touch.

The Dolcevita series came in either a piston, cartridge/converter ink fill, or lever fill mechanism. My pen is a converter and I find it pulls enough ink into the pen to be quite functional.

And finally, the most important part of the pen, the nib. On my pen this is a beautiful 14 kt gold, solid tone nib. Many of the pens I see have two tones, but mine is single gold tone. I was able to get an oblique medium, like a stub, so this pen seems to be made just for me. The nib creates a very solid line of ink and the oblique style gives the shaping of letters that extra personal touch as its responds so well to the nature of each person's writing.

An Exclusive, the Dolcevita with the Fusion Nib

In June 2012, I had the pleasure of visiting Delta Pen at their headquarters located just outside of Naples, Italy. My write-up of the visit and the tour of their factory is included on the site. During the visit we talked about the exciting new Fusion nib Delta created. I was presented with a one of the first Delta Dolcevita pens to be fitted with the new Fusion nib. The Fusion nib is new technology fusing the qualities of steel and gold to create a metal with its own writing qualities.

The pen is the medium-sized Dolcevita and has a converter-cartridge ink fill system. It is a great addition to my collection of Delta pens.

Being on a month long holiday in Italy at the time, I used the new Fusion nib extensively for writing in my travel journal. I found the nib to be very smooth and the ink flow very consistent and responsive to any pressure I put on the nib. The nib is a medium, as I was told the first production of the new fusion nib would be first for fine and medium nibs. The full range of nibs are now available. While I typically use broad or stub nibs, this is one of my favourite pens for editing or when I have to write very small on documents. As I found out, always good to have medium nib pen.

Even with being a mid-size pen, the pen has a good overall size for me. With the cap posted, or not posted, the pen is the same length as the Pelikan M800 - which has always been a good size for my hand. The body is wider and there is where for my hand, the real comfort comes into play.