ITALIC, i.e. Italian, in Roman archaeology, history and law, a term used, as distinct from Roman, of that which belongs to the races, languages, &c., of the non-Roman parts of Italy (see Italy, Ancient Languages and Peoples). In architecture the Italic order is another name for the Composite order (see Order). The term was applied to the Pythagorean school of philosophy in Magna Graecia, and to an early Latin version of the Bible, known also as Itala, which was superseded by the Vulgate, but its special technical use is of a particular form of type, in which the letters slope to the right. This is used, in present-day printing, chiefly to emphasize words or phrases, to indicate words or sentences in a foreign language, or to mark the titles of books, &c. It was introduced by the Aldine Press (see Manutius and Typography).
