italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Re: [I-S] Piano nobile (architectural term)
Dear Dr Addison,
Florio 1611 ( http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio/ - thank you Dr Lindahl) does not find it necessary to gloss "nobile" in this special sense.
The first usage in English that the OED records is
1715–17 C. Campbell Vitruvius Britannicus II. 5/1 The great pair of Stairs lead up to the Piano Nobile, where is a lofty and spacious Salon of the same Extent as the Hall below.
The Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, vol. XI, nobile, 8: records numerous uses of "nobile" to mean "distinguished by its imposing nature or by the elegance and the functionality of the architure, by the value of the construction materials used, by the richness and refinement of the friezes and ornaments..." but the earliest use that it records of "piano nobile" is Magalotti, 7-109: L'altra mattina, venutomi alzata la testa nel passare dal Palazzo degli Strozzi, veddi al piano nobile messe su due invetriate nuove.
Lorenzo Magalotti was in Florence from the 1660s onwards, and travelled to England with Cosimo III at the end of the decade.
I don't have the volume of the GDLI that indentifies the Magalotti source.
I suspect that it is a seventeenth-century term – but I'm already out of my depth here, and cannot answer your very interesting question.
Nerida Newbigin
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Nerida Newbigin | Emeritus Professor, Italian Studies A18 | University of Sydney, NSW, 2006 AUSTRALIA | Tel: +61 2 9660 2612 | [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
From: "Willette, Thomas" <[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies <[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 18:34:42 -0500
To: <[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [I-S] Piano nobile (architectural term)
italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
The term is Italian. I would check one of the major Italian dictionaries.
From: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Herb Addison
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 4:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Subject: [I-S] Piano nobile (architectural term)
italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
For an article I’m writing on the appearance of the piano nobile in U.S. buildings, usually designed by graduates of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, I would like to be able to say when the term was first introduced. Was it used during the Renaissance – especially during the lifetime of Palladio who employed the motif in his buildings (but did not use the term in his masterwork, “I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura”)? Or thereafter?
Thanks for any help or references.
Herb Addison
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