For readers in the United States, the person most often credited with making the first piano is Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian instrument maker who worked in Florence. He developed the instrument around 1700 for Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici. Cristofori’s design let a player control volume by changing how hard they pressed the key—a major change from the harpsichord.

The short answer: Bartolomeo Cristofori made the first piano

Bartolomeo Cristofori made the earliest known piano in Florence, Italy, around the start of the 18th century. He called his invention a gravicembalo col piano e forte, which means “harpsichord with soft and loud.”

The name later became “piano,” a shorter form of pianoforte.

Cristofori did not create the piano from nothing. He built on older keyboard instruments, especially the harpsichord and clavichord. His key advance was a new action that caused small hammers to strike the strings.

That action gave the player control over loudness:

• Press a key gently, and the note sounds soft.
• Press it with more force, and the note sounds louder.
• Release the key, and the damper can stop the string from ringing.

This may seem normal today, but it was a major step in keyboard design.

The exact invention date is not known. A Medici inventory from 1700 describes an instrument made by Cristofori that could play both softly and loudly. This is the earliest strong documentary evidence for the piano.

Why did Cristofori invent the piano?

Cristofori likely designed the piano to solve a weakness in existing keyboard instruments. The harpsichord could produce a clear, bright sound, but pressing a key harder did not make the note louder. Its mechanism plucked the string with a quill or similar plectrum.

The clavichord allowed some control over volume, but it was quiet. It worked well for private practice but could not fill a large room.

Cristofori aimed to combine useful features from both instruments:

The piano’s hammer system was the key improvement. The hammer had to hit the string, move away quickly, and allow the string to vibrate freely. It also needed to return to its starting position so the player could repeat the note.

That made the piano more expressive than the harpsichord while keeping the keyboard layout familiar.

Who was Bartolomeo Cristofori?

Bartolomeo Cristofori was born in 1655 in Padua, which was then part of the Republic of Venice. He became known as a skilled maker of keyboard instruments and mechanical devices.

Around 1698, Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici brought Cristofori to Florence. Cristofori worked for the Medici court, where he maintained and built instruments.

The Medici family supported music, art, and scientific work. Their court gave Cristofori the money, tools, and time needed to test new designs.

Cristofori was not only a craftsman. He was also an inventor who solved difficult mechanical problems. His piano action needed several parts to work together:

• A key had to move the hammer.
• The hammer had to strike the string without staying on it.
• The action had to reset quickly.
• The player needed to repeat notes without delay.
• Dampers had to stop unwanted sound.
• The frame had to support the tension of the strings.

The surviving evidence shows that Cristofori built more than one piano. Three of his pianos are still known to exist. They date from 1720, 1722, and 1726.

The 1720 instrument is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The other surviving instruments are associated with museums in Rome and Leipzig.

What was the first piano called?

Cristofori called his early instrument a gravicembalo col piano e forte. In English, this means “harpsichord with soft and loud.”

The name described the feature that made the instrument different. A player could vary volume through touch.

The word pianoforte later became common. It combines two Italian musical terms:

• Piano means soft.
• Forte means loud.

Over time, people shortened pianoforte to piano.

The instrument’s name also explains why modern music uses terms such as piano and forte. These words tell a musician how softly or loudly to play.

How did Cristofori’s piano work?

Cristofori’s piano used a hammer action. When the player pressed a key, the mechanism lifted a hammer toward a string. The hammer struck the string and then moved away.

This differs from a harpsichord, where a small plectrum plucks the string. It also differs from some simple struck-string instruments, where the striking part may remain near the string and block free vibration.

Cristofori’s action included several ideas still linked to piano design:

1. A hammer strikes the string.
2. The hammer escapes after the strike.
3. The mechanism resets for another note.
4. A damper can stop the string.
5. The player controls sound through touch.

The word escapement describes the mechanism that lets the hammer move away from the string after impact. Without this movement, the hammer could prevent the string from vibrating well or make rapid repetition difficult.

Cristofori also worked to reduce unwanted noise. His early pianos were quieter than later concert grands, but they already offered something the harpsichord could not: direct control of volume from the keyboard.

That is the central reason historians credit him as the inventor of the piano.

Did anyone help invent the piano?

Cristofori is credited with inventing the first piano, but earlier instrument makers created the ideas that made his work possible.

The piano grew from a long line of keyboard instruments. Its development involved:

• The psaltery, which used strings stretched over a frame.
• The dulcimer, in which strings were struck with small beaters.
• The clavichord, which used metal tangents to strike strings.
• The harpsichord, which used keys to pluck strings.
• The virginal and spinet, which were smaller plucked-string keyboards.

These instruments did not contain Cristofori’s complete piano action. Still, they supplied important concepts, such as a keyboard layout, stretched strings, bridges, soundboards, and methods for stopping notes.

So the fairest answer is:

Bartolomeo Cristofori made the first known piano, but the piano developed from many earlier string and keyboard instruments.

This distinction matters. Saying that Cristofori invented the piano does not mean he invented every part of it. It means he created the first documented instrument that used the essential piano principle: hammers striking strings with touch-controlled volume.

When did the piano become popular?

Cristofori built the first piano around 1700, but the instrument did not become popular right away.

Early pianos were expensive and difficult to build. They also had a softer sound than later instruments. Many musicians continued to prefer the harpsichord for some types of music.

Interest grew after an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, published a description of Cristofori’s instrument in 1711. Maffei explained how the action worked and helped spread knowledge of the design.

Other makers then built their own versions. German instrument makers, including Gottfried Silbermann, studied and adapted Cristofori’s ideas. Over the 18th and 19th centuries, piano makers made the instrument louder, stronger, and more reliable.

Important later changes included:

• Stronger frames to support higher string tension.
• Larger soundboards.
• Thicker and longer strings.
• Improved hammer coverings.
• More reliable escapement systems.
• Additional pedals.
• Wider keyboard ranges.
• Better methods for tuning and mass production.

By the time of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the piano had become an important concert and composition instrument. During the 19th century, makers such as Broadwood, Érard, Bösendorfer, Steinway & Sons, and others helped shape the modern piano.

Who made the modern piano?

Cristofori made the first piano, but no single person made the modern piano by themselves.

The modern piano developed through the work of many makers. Each solved different problems:

• Cristofori created the basic hammer action.
• Silbermann and other 18th-century makers refined the design.
• John Broadwood helped develop stronger English-style pianos.
• Sébastien Érard made major improvements to grand-piano action and pedals.
• Heinrich Steinweg, later known as Henry Steinway, and the Steinway company helped develop powerful American grand pianos.
• Alpheus Babcock contributed to the development of the cast-iron frame used in American pianos.
• Other builders improved strings, hammers, soundboards, cases, and factory methods.

The American piano industry became especially influential during the 19th century. Steinway & Sons, founded in New York in 1853, introduced design changes that became common in concert grand pianos, including cross-stringing and strong iron-frame construction.

These later advances do not replace Cristofori’s role. They show the difference between inventing the first piano and developing the instrument used today.

Is the piano Italian, German, British, or American?

The first piano was Italian because Cristofori developed it in Florence. Later piano traditions grew in several countries.

A simple timeline looks like this:

Calling the piano “American” can be accurate in a modern manufacturing context, but it is not accurate for the original invention. The first piano was made in Italy.

How do we know Cristofori made the first piano?

The evidence comes from historical records, surviving instruments, and technical descriptions.

A Medici inventory from 1700 lists a keyboard instrument made by Cristofori that could play softly and loudly. This record connects Cristofori to an early piano at the right time and place.

The three surviving Cristofori pianos also provide direct physical evidence. Their mechanisms show a mature design rather than a rough first attempt. This suggests that Cristofori had already tested and refined the action before building those examples.

Maffei’s 1711 article provides another important source. It described Cristofori’s mechanism and included an illustration of the action.

The exact date of the very first working prototype remains uncertain. Historians can support “around 1700” more strongly than a specific invention day or year.

That is why careful sources usually say Cristofori invented the piano around 1700, rather than claiming an exact date.

Common mistakes about who made the piano

Several popular claims confuse the first piano with later piano development.

Mistake 1: Johann Sebastian Bach invented the piano

Johann Sebastian Bach did not invent the piano. He was a composer and musician who lived during the piano’s early development.

Bach met Gottfried Silbermann’s piano designs and reportedly had opinions about them, but he was not the instrument’s inventor.

Mistake 2: The piano came directly from the harpsichord

The piano shares a keyboard and some construction features with the harpsichord, but its action is different. A harpsichord plucks strings. A piano strikes them with hammers.

The piano is better described as a new instrument built from ideas found in several earlier instruments.

Mistake 3: The first piano sounded like a concert grand

Cristofori’s pianos were much smaller and quieter than modern concert grands. They had fewer keys, lighter construction, and less string tension.

Their sound would have been closer to a gentle early keyboard instrument than to a modern Steinway concert grand.

Mistake 4: The word “piano” proves the instrument was invented in France

The word piano comes from Italian. The first documented piano was also made in Italy. Later makers across Europe and the United States changed the instrument, but the original invention was Italian.

Mistake 5: The first piano had the same pedals as a modern piano

Early pianos did not have the standard three-pedal setup found on many modern grands and uprights. Pedal systems developed over time.

What is the difference between the first piano and a modern piano?

The first piano and a modern piano share the same basic idea: keys control hammers that strike strings. Nearly every other feature changed to meet new musical needs.

The modern piano can produce more volume because it has stronger materials, larger soundboards, heavier strings, and improved hammer designs.

Still, its core action remains recognizably related to Cristofori’s invention.

Key takeaways

• Bartolomeo Cristofori made the first known piano.
• He developed it in Florence around 1700.
• His original name for it was gravicembalo col piano e forte.
• The piano used hammers to strike strings instead of plucking them.
• Cristofori’s design allowed players to control volume through touch.
• The modern piano was developed by many later makers in Europe and the United States.
• The exact date of the first piano is not known, but surviving records and instruments strongly support Cristofori’s role.

Frequently asked questions

Who invented the piano?

Bartolomeo Cristofori is credited with inventing the first known piano. He created the instrument in Florence, Italy, around 1700.

Was the piano invented in Italy?

Yes. Cristofori developed the first known piano while working for the Medici court in Florence.

What was the piano originally called?

Cristofori called it a gravicembalo col piano e forte, meaning “harpsichord with soft and loud.” The shorter terms pianoforte and piano came later.

Did the piano come before the harpsichord?

No. The harpsichord existed before the piano. Cristofori used the keyboard format and some structural ideas of earlier instruments, but he created a new hammer-based action.

How old is the piano?

The piano is more than 300 years old. The earliest strong record dates to 1700, and surviving Cristofori pianos date from 1720, 1722, and 1726.

Who made the modern American piano?

Many makers shaped the American piano. Steinway & Sons became one of the most influential American piano companies after its founding in New York in 1853. However, the original piano was invented by Cristofori in Italy.

Sources and further reading

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Bartolomeo Cristofori piano, 1720
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Piano
• Smithsonian Institution: Musical Instruments
• Library of Congress: Piano history and collections

Conclusion

Bartolomeo Cristofori made the first known piano in Florence around 1700. His invention replaced the harpsichord’s plucking action with hammers that struck the strings. That change let players shape music through touch, making the piano more expressive.

Later builders in Italy, Germany, Britain, France, Austria, and the United States made the piano louder, stronger, and more versatile. But the central idea still belongs to Cristofori: a keyboard instrument that can play both soft and loud.