An Italian design icon in an extraordinarily well-preserved original case. There are vintage typewriters, and then there are design objects.
The Olivetti Lettera 22 belongs firmly in the second category.
Designed in Italy by Marcello Nizzoli with engineering by Giuseppe Beccio, the Lettera 22 was introduced in 1950 and became one of Olivetti's most celebrated products. Its compact form was revolutionary for the time: the body, carriage, keyboard and mechanisms were integrated into a remarkably small package without sacrificing the functionality of a real typewriter.
And the design wasn't merely admired—it was officially recognized as exceptional design.
The Lettera 22 won Italy's prestigious Compasso d'Oro in 1954, entered the permanent design collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art, and in 1959 was selected by the Illinois Institute of Technology as the best-designed product of the previous 100 years.
That's a remarkable résumé for a typewriter.
And this one is blue.
The blue enamel is quintessential Olivetti: sophisticated, modern and distinctly Italian.
Olivetti offered the Lettera 22 in several colors. Its first-generation machines included blue, green, pink and beige, while later versions expanded the palette.
This particular blue has a wonderfully fresh appearance, and the combination of the blue body, charcoal-colored keys and single red accent key is exactly the sort of restrained visual design that made Olivetti famous.
But there's another detail we find particularly remarkable.
Look at the case.
The original case is exceptionally well preserved.
Lettera 22 machines were sold with carrying cases designed to make the little typewriter genuinely portable.
Finding a Lettera 22 in beautiful condition is one thing.
Finding one with an original case that has survived in this condition is another.
The case on this machine is remarkably clean and intact, with its original light-blue exterior and contrasting dark center strap. After all these decades, it still looks like it belongs with the machine—and that's a detail collectors will appreciate.
A typewriter that became a design icon.
The Lettera 22 wasn't created by treating a typewriter as a machine and then decorating it.
Nizzoli essentially designed the entire object around portability.
The carriage is integrated into the body. The platen barely protrudes beyond the case. The return lever folds neatly into the overall form. Even the keyboard becomes part of the sculptural shape.
The result is extraordinarily compact—about 3.7 kg (8 pounds)—while retaining a full mechanical writing mechanism.
And the mechanism itself is beautifully engineered. One museum description notes that the design reduced the internal mechanism to approximately 240 components, an impressive degree of mechanical simplification for a typewriter of its era.
Writers loved them.
The Lettera 22 became a favorite working companion of Italian writers and journalists. Olivetti's own historical archive specifically names journalists Indro Montanelli and Enzo Biagi, who used their Lettera 22 machines as traveling companions even after electronic writing began to arrive.
And you can understand why.
There's something completely different about writing on one.
Comes with original, soft shell zip case, and a printed copy of the original owner's manual.
This machine has been fully serviced, and tested - ready for use right out of the box. No refurbishment needed, it looked like it may never have been used!
