Tipoteca Italiana was established in 1995 to preserve and foster the arts of letterpress printing and handset typography. Its goal is to highlight the rich history and significant contributions of Italian type designers from the earliest days of printing, through the Industrial Revolution, to the present time.

Tipoteca houses not only an extraordinary collection of metal and hand-cut wood typefaces, but also maintains an archive, a printing museum, a functioning print studio, and an extensive library—all in one efficiently designed, multipurpose building.