Contemporary look? How does that jive with the topic?

hhp

I would start from here:
http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~luc/italy.html
http://new.myfonts.com/search/italy/people/

http://www.progetto-italic.org/

http://molotro.com/type.html
http://www.pinggera.it/weblog/
http://www.leftloft.com/projects/LFT-Etica/
http://cavedoni.com/
http://www.fsd.it/
http://www.alessio.de/
http://www.giofugatype.com/

http://www.aiap.it/libreria.php?ID=1330
http://www.aiap.it/libreria.php?ID=78

I'd also check out http://www.myfonts.com/country/it/.

Sorry to be a little off topic, but being an Italian Melburnian I'm interested in these exhibitions; could you tell me where and when the exhibition will be held or better still a link to a site with information on the exhibition?

All the helpful links are much appreciated. I just noticed the new HF&J release (Vitesse) which picks up on elements of Eurostile. Re Domenico's post, it is a new space being developed within the City of Melbourne -- it will be a permanent facility (opening later in 2010?), located in Carlton, but I should be circumspect and leave promotion of it to my client.

Vitesse, nice choice; a modern take on the slab-serif which should satisfy the client's request for a contemporary look.

"it will be a permanent facility (opening later in 2010?), located in Carlton"
Where else but Carlton? It sounds great, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it.

The Eurostile angle of Vitesse seems just the ticket, and I think it might even be usable for a moderate amount of text. If you need a separate but matching display font, check out Linotype's Morris Sans.

hhp

Thanks all for your constructive suggestions -- this is an excellent service/community.

Albert Pinggera’s FF Strada is my favorite example of a contemporary design originating in Italy.

There's a recent book on contemporary type design from Italy that might help you: http://www.aiap.it/libreria.php?ID=1330