Fountain Pen Review: Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Magico Emerald

Do you know that wonderful feeling you get when you have outdone yourself? That is how I felt when I held the new Momento Magico fountain pen from our friends at Leonardo Officina Italiana. They have outdone themselves again with the redesigned ink window and a new color for the Momento Magico — the Emerald. It was love at first sight, and looking at this beautiful emerald fountain pen is like standing at the shore and gazing at the breathtaking beauty of the waters at Amalfi Coast.

Have you noticed that the Magico has a different cap band than the other fountain pens from Leonardo Officina Italiana? The Magico collection is inspired by the time of dramatic changes in ancient Greece when trade opened up between the city and southern Italy and Sicily. With trade came cultural changes, too, including poetry, architecture, and art. From music, visual arts, and film came the modern inspiration for the Momento Magico, the 1962 Roberto Rossellini film Anima Nera. 

The historic inspiration of this pen is expressed in the fretwork on the cap band representing the decoration from the period of artistic awakening known as “Geometric Art.” The colors of the materials of Momento Magico are inspired by Rossellini's film and the moments found within it, while the special resins and the metal trims show the artistic glory of that time in history. And this is why the Magico has a different cap band.

The box sleeve for the Momento Magico Collection (right) has the special geometric art that is also the pens' cap bands. Inside the box are the Momento Magico Emerald fountain pen and a Certificate of Authenticity.

I reviewed the Millefiori from the first batch of Momento Magico pens. The Millefiori's resin is a combination of red, green, brown, and blue. The Magico Emerald is bluish-green with swirling silver and deep green, almost like ocean waves. Just like the other Leonardo fountain pens, the Emerald has a high gloss finish that is so shiny and smooth! This beautiful finish is done by Leonardo's expert artisans. The new Magico Collection has four colors: Emerald, Millefiori, Pietra Salata, and Black in either matte or glossy finish.

Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Magico Emerald

Here are some of the important details about the Momento Magico Emerald fountain pen:

• Length, capped: 5.7 in | 14.5 cm
• Body length, barrel to nib: 5.2 in | 13.2 cm
• Length, cap posted: 7.65 in | 19.4 cm
• Full pen weight without ink: 23.8 g | 0.84 oz
• Body material: Resin
• Trim: Gold or Silver/Chrome
• Cap: Screw on, postable
• Clip material: Stainless steel 
• Nib: No. 6 steel or gold in Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, or Stub (1.1mm) with an ABS feed; Elastic Extra Fine or Fine nibs are also available but only in the silver version
• Feed: ABS
• Filling mechanism: Piston; ink capacity is 1.5 ml

Momento Magico fountain pens can be completely disassembled using the piston created by Leonardo helps to disassemble the pen for cleaning. The wrench is easy to use in taking the piston assembly out of the barrel. Once the piston assembly is taken out of the barrel, the wrench stays secured to the assembly which is a huge help in putting it back into the barrel after cleaning. The wrench, made from 316L steel, the same steel used in high ranges watches, is sold separately. (See how the piston wrench works in my review of Magico Millefiori.) 

The Magico can be fully disassembled for cleaning.

Inspired by Greek art, the Momento Magico's cap has a different band from most of Leonardo's fountain pens which are mostly simple bands. The fretwork central band in a letter M pattern comes from the Geometric Art period.

While other Leonardo pens have markings on their barrels, the Momento Magico has its branding on the cap, above the ascending geometric lines of the cap band.

The Emerald's body is so shiny! I love the vibrant color and glossy finish of Leonardo fountain pens.

The 2022 Magico fountain pens have redesigned ink windows. The ink windows of the new fountain pens are shorter, perhaps only half the length of the earlier Magico pens. There are also matching ring bands in the new pens' ink windows, these were not installed in the previous pens. Note that the ink window in the new pens is no longer visible when the pen is capped. The tiny ink window gap in the first version of Momento Magico pens was not well-liked, and the redesign is a good improvement to the 2022 Magicos.

The Momento Magico's new ink window is shorter and has matching ring bands.

Momento Magico fountain pens are fitted with No. 6 steel or gold nibs that are screwed into the section. The available nibs are Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, or Stub (1.1mm).  An elastic nib in Extra Fine or Fine is also available. The Momento Magico fountain pens are also fitted with an ABS or black ebonite feed and they have a 1.5 ml piston filling capacity that is produced in-house. This Emerald fountain pen is fitted with a juicy and smooth Medium nib that wrote so well out of the box.

The Emerald's Medium nib writes smooth, juicy, and very comfortable to use.

The marking to indicate width is engraved on the nib shoulder.

Below are some photos of the Emerald side-by-side with the Millefiori for comparison:

Momento Magico Emerald (2022) and Millefiori (2021) – the packaging and presentation for both pens remain the same.

The cap, clip, and clip band are all the same.

But the gap in the ink window that is visible in the 2021 Millefiori is no longer visible in the Emerald.

Here is the comparison of the ink windows of the two fountain pens. The 2021 Magico has a longer and simpler ink window. The 2022 Magico has a shorter ink window with matching ring bands.

The Momento Magico is a full-sized fountain pen that shares the same length and diameter as the Momento Zero and Furore. It also looks very similar to the MZ, but the differences are also very obvious: slimmer clip, cap band design, ink window, and piston-filling mechanism.

Capped, the full-sized Momento Magico fountain pen shares approximately the same length as Laban 325, Esterbrook Estie, and Lamy Al-star, but longer than a TWSBI ECO. Uncapped, all of five pens share the same length. 

From top: TWSBI ECO Turquoise, Laban 325, Leonardo Momento Magico Emerald, Esterbrook Estie Gold Rush Frontier Green, and Lamy Alstar Aquamarine.

I always try to fill my pens with matching ink colors, and I filled the Magico Emerald with Robert Oster Signature Marine, a matching bluish-green ink. The Momento Magico's piston mechanism worked well, and the Medium nib wrote smoothly without the need for adjustments or tuning.

I chose this happy song because the Magico Emerald reminds me so much of the sea!

The Momento Magico is another well-designed fountain pen from the expert artisans in the workrooms of Leonardo Officina Italiana. These fountain pens are fully handmade in Italy using high-quality, lovely resin and include a full lifetime mechanical warranty. Like its pen cousins, the Momento Magico Emerald is a delight to look at, wonderful to use, and great to keep. Get one for your collection!

This postcard tells the Leonardo story.

These days, Leonardo Officina Italiana is one of the most active and talked about pen brands. Anyone into pens who is on Facebook and Instagram knows this. Leonardo also has the fastest workshops with their current pen lineup making special pens for other brands and getting new additions almost every quarter. From the initial series of Momento Zero and Furore, they now have quite a number of limited edition pens in various materials in between. I'm always excited to see new pens coming from the Leonardo workshop, and I'm sure more exciting pens are coming in 2023.

Rants of The Archer thanks Leonardo Officina Italiana for providing the Momento Magico Emerald fountain pen for review purposes. To learn more about these beautiful, colorful, well-crafted pens, visit the Leonardo Officina Italiana website or follow them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/leonardopenss/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/leonardo_pens/).

In Europe, Leonardo pens are widely available from retailers such as Fontoplumo, Appelboom, Stilo & Stile, and Fontanna Penna. 

In the United States, Leonardo pens are available from Goldspot Pens, Truphae, Pen Chalet, Atlas Stationers, and Endless Pens.

In the Philippines, Leonardo pens are available exclusively at Pengrafik (https://www.facebook.com/PenGrafik).