Photo: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
One example. Colors, sub-models, and production years vary; the machine you find may differ.
Olivetti Lettera 22
tendinous, green-twig flex, wants a firm quick finger press
More flex and resistance than the 32, like a green twig bending. Asks for a firm snappy touch.
Designed by Marcello Nizzoli in 1949–50, the Lettera 22 won the Compasso d'Oro in 1954 and was named the best-designed product of the past hundred years by the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1959. Light and quick, with a lively touch. The machine that made Olivetti a household name for industrial design as much as for typewriters.
What people say
winner of Italy's premier industrial-design award, 1954
— Compasso d'Oro
named the best-designed product of the previous 100 years, 1959
— Illinois Institute of Technology
designed in 1949–50; later succeeded by the Lettera 32 in 1963
— Marcello Nizzoli
Used by
See & hear it for yourself
Manuals & repair
All sources
External, in their original form. The people who know these machines best — click through to read and watch.
Where to find one
Listings come and go. These show whatever Olivetti Lettera 22 machines are on the marketplace right now.
See Olivetti Lettera 22 listings on eBay marketplace
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Specifications
- Manufacturer
- Olivetti
- Origin
- Italy
- Years
- 1950–1963
- Form
- Portable
- Mass
- 3.7 kg
- Shift
- segment