At first I thought it was much too long for me. Because it has a twist-retracting nib, the section is about twice the length of what might be considered 'normal', making the uncapped body from nib to barrel-end exactly 6 inches. But it feels delightful to hold in my hand, and the 0.9 italic nib wrote perfectly right out of the box--on the restrained side for ink flow (which I like), and very smooth with strokes in all directions. Even smoother than cursive italics I have ordered from Mottishaw and Binder, I think it is more like a stub than the ones from those two. Still, a wonderful compromise of line width variation and smoothness.
Maybe an odd thing to say, but this is one of the most beautiful pens that I own--when capped (I now own around eighty fountain pens, alas!). It has a stately beauty, with rich grey-ish blue herringbone patterns, mixed with deep turquoise striations. I had asked Cellulophile (sp?) about his d'Inverno prior to my purchase, and perhaps I ought to have listened. For the least favorite part of the pen is that retracting mechanism; it doesn't have the 'sureness' of my Fermo, and instead of the promised 'click' the nib extension ends a bit 'mushy'. But, the nib itself is lovely, and again, it writes beautifully, too.
The picky-ness aside, it's a wonderful pen. So, now I know what the fuss is about, and I'll surely be looking for other Stipulas.
- hope springs eternal!