Recta was one of Aldo Novarese's earliest contributions to the massive surge of the European sans serif genre that was booming in the middle of the 20th century. Initially published just one year after Neue Haas Grotesk came out of Switzerland and Univers out of France, and at a time when Akzidenz Grotesk and DIN were riding high in Germany and Gill Sans was making waves in Great Britain, it was intended to compete with all of those foundry faces, and later came to be known as the Italian Helvetica. It maintains traditional simplicity as its high point of functionality, while showing minimal infusion of humanistic traits. It shows that the construct of the grotesk does not have to be rigid, and can indeed have a touch of Italian flair.

While the original Recta family lacked a proper suite of weights and widths, this digital version comes in five weights, corresponding italics, four condensed fonts, and small caps in four weights. It also includes a wide-ranging character set for extended Latin language support.