Leonardo Furore Grande Review: A Piston-Filled Pen That Lives Up to Its Looks

Introduction

Some pens earn their spot on a desk through engineering, others through presence. The Leonardo Furore Grande manages a bit of both. As the larger sibling in a line that grew from the Momento Zero to the Furore and eventually the Momento Zero Grande, the Furore Grande rounds out the family with the rounded finials many people prefer over a flat top. The version covered here is the green material, and it is genuinely striking: the resin is flecked with mineral-like sparkle, so the pen looks as though you are peering into a mine shaft full of glittering stone. It is the kind of pen that starts conversations, and not for superficial reasons. It is also simply a very pleasant writer.

Who This Pen Is For

This is a pen for someone who wants a large, comfortable daily writer with real ink capacity and a strong sense of occasion. If you enjoy piston fillers, generous nibs, and resins that look different every time they catch the light, the Furore Grande fits that brief well. It also suits collectors who have followed Leonardo’s progression and wanted a Furore in the larger Grande format.

The material deserves special mention. In the green version, the flecks and subtle bubble-like patterns near the cap give it an almost sea-like quality, shifting as you turn the pen in your hand. If visual character matters to you as much as writing performance, few pens in this class compete.

Main Strengths

The Furore Grande is a genuine piston-filler, which means it holds a generous amount of ink. That alone puts it ahead of cartridge-converter pens of similar size. The filling mechanism feels properly integrated into the pen rather than added as an afterthought.

The nib on this example is a No. 6, 14k gold Broad with rhodium trim to match the rest of the pen, paired with an ebonite feed. The ebonite feed keeps up very well with ink flow, and the broad nib has a slightly stubby character that adds a pleasant touch of line variation to your writing without any pressure at all. Even though some versions exist with a larger No. 8 nib, the No. 6 here is a good nib with no issues in use.

Comfort is another quiet win. The sections Leonardo uses on these models look questionable at first glance, but in hand they turn out to be genuinely comfortable to hold. The pen is large, and while it can post if you really want to, the size means most people will not feel the need.

Things to Consider Before Buying

There are a couple of trade-offs worth knowing about. Most notably, there is no ink window. With a piston filler holding plenty of ink, having no idea how much is left can be genuinely annoying, and the material is not translucent enough to let you peek through. You will need to keep a rough mental note of your fill level.

Also worth noting: newer Leonardo models now feature a tapered cap lip, a subtle refinement over the earlier straight cut that makes for a more streamlined silhouette. Depending on the production run you buy into, you may or may not see this detail, but on pens with the piston mechanism it has become part of the design, and it is a welcome improvement.

Buying Advice

If you are choosing between the smaller Furore and the Furore Grande, the decision comes down to preference on size and filling. The Grande gives you the piston filler and its substantial ink capacity, along with the large, comfortable section. The green material shown here is a standout, though Leonardo offers it in other colourways as well, including blue versions of the material family.

For anyone who values a pen that is both a pretty object and a good writer, this one is easy to recommend. It is a large pen, a very pleasant writer, and a very pleasant looker, and those are the things that matter most.

Conclusion

The Leonardo Furore Grande is straightforward in the best way: gorgeous mineral-flecked resin, a proper piston filler, a well-behaved 14k broad nib with rhodium trim and an ebonite feed, and a section that is more comfortable than it looks. The lack of an ink window is the main caveat, but it does little to diminish what is otherwise a pen that is not going back to the shop. Sometimes the story is not elaborate. You simply keep it.