Montegrappa Parola Fountain Pen

The Montegrappa Parola – an apt name for an elegant pen, for “parola” means “word” – is made in a highly-lacquered resin, with palladium-coated steel accents. Montegrappa’s signature mark is engraved in the metal that tops of the cap, then inlaid with black varnish, and the clip features a rolling ball that allows the pen to be withdrawn from your pocket or bag without catching the material. The body of the pen tapers to a coin that features Montegrappa’s founding date of 1912 within a laurel wreath; the taper of the body allows easy posting of the cap.

The nib is steel, marked with the manufacturer’s name and stamped with a letter to indicate the nib size. The Parolo writes smoothly, giving some degree of feedback, and does so consistently, with no false starts or skipping.

The thread on the pen is steel, that inside the cap plastic; it requires four complete turns to remove the cap, giving a satisfyingly old-fashioned feel as one prepares to commit words to paper.

The whole pen weighs in at 33g, including the cap, so has a satisfyingly solid feel in the hand. It has a closed length of 144mm, and with the cap posted it is 163mm. Note that the cap is actually a third of the pen’s weight, so some may prefer to write with fsthe cap detached!

It can be used as a cartridge pen, but comes with a converter to facilitate the use of bottled ink. The Parolo is supplied with a maker’s 2-year warranty against manufacturing errors.