Bartolomeo Cristofori
- Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) was an Italian maker of musical instruments and invented the first piano in Florence, Italy in 1700.
- A craftsman repaired harpsichords for Italy’s royal court. His reputation brought him to the attention of Prince Ferdinando de Medici, son of the grand duke of Tuscany.
- Three pianos by Cristofori survive, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (1720); at the Museo Strumenti Musicali in Rome (1722); and at the Musikinstrumenten-Museum of Leipzig University (1726).