[[Image:Kedleston Hall.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Kedleston Hall. The first floor piano nobile is clearly distinguished by its larger windows. It is placed above a rustication ground floor, and below a secondary floor, it is reached by an external staircase]]The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of renaissance architecture. This floor contains the principal reception and bedrooms of the house. The piano nobile is often the first or sometimes the second floor, located above an (often rustication) ground floor containing minor rooms and service rooms. The reasons for this were so the rooms would have finer views, and more practically to avoid damp. This is especially true in Venice where the piano nobile of the many palazzo is especially obvious from the exterior by virtue of its larger windows and balconies and open loggias. Examples of this are Ca' Foscari, Ca' d'Oro and Palazzo Barbarigo. Larger windows than those on other floors are usually the most obvious feature of the piano nobile. Often in England and Italy the piano nobile is reached by an ornate outer staircase, which negated the need for the inhabitants of this floor to enter the house by the servant's floor below. Kedleston Hall is an example of this in England, as is Villa Capra in Italy. Most houses contained a secondary floor above the piano nobile which contained more intimate withdrawing and bedrooms for private use by the family of the house when no honoured guest were present. Above this floor would often be an attic floor containing staff bedrooms. In Italy, especially in town palazzi, the floor above the piano nobile is sometimes referred to as the "second piano nobile", especially if the loggias and balconies reflect those below on a slightly smaller scale. This term while often used is technically incorrect as the piano nobile always contains the grandest rooms, therefore the secondary floor by its very name cannot be as grand. This term is not used in Britain. This arrangement of floors continued throughout Europe for as long as large houses continued to be built in the classical styles. This arrangement was designed at Buckingham Palace as recently as the mid 19th century. Holkham Hall, Osterley Park and Chiswick House are 18th century English houses which employed this design. Architectural elements
I replaced the sentence :''The piano nobile is often the second floor above a service floor in the rustic style.'' because I couldn't attach meaning to the expression rustic style and because it's highly unclear whether the "second floor" is British or American. (I suggest that this is a European subject and should be written in British, but I can see there might be other opinions.) The suggestion that the piano nobile is sometimes the second (third) floor rather than the first (second) comes from the German Wikipedia. ::Defined "rustic" as used as the architectural term. It doesn't really matter which level is used as the Piano nobile can be on any except the ground. User:Giano | User talk:Giano 09:34, 28 May 2005 (UTC) Would it be correct and useful to mention that the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. is built on such a plan? :*I don't think the Library of Congress is a very good example. Indisputably it has a "piano nobile", (i.e. its most important floor) but as the library is really a public building, and the piano nobile does not contain a suite of principle reception rooms in the way that is generally understood by the term. You can add it if you want, I wouldn't revert, but is is not the best example to illustrate the subject. User:Giano | User talk:Giano 10:07, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
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Words begining with Piano_nobile:
Piano_nobile
Piano_nobile
Piano nobile
[[Image:Kedleston Hall.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Kedleston Hall. The first floor piano nobile is clearly distinguished by its larger windows. It is placed above a rustication ground floor, and below a secondary floor, it is reached by an external staircase]]The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of renaissance architecture. This floor contains the principal reception and bedrooms of the house. The piano nobile is often the first or sometimes the second floor, located above an (often rustication) ground floor containing minor rooms and service rooms. The reasons for this were so the rooms would have finer views, and more practically to avoid damp. This is especially true in Venice where the piano nobile of the many palazzo is especially obvious from the exterior by virtue of its larger windows and balconies and open loggias. Examples of this are Ca' Foscari, Ca' d'Oro and Palazzo Barbarigo. Larger windows than those on other floors are usually the most obvious feature of the piano nobile. Often in England and Italy the piano nobile is reached by an ornate outer staircase, which negated the need for the inhabitants of this floor to enter the house by the servant's floor below. Kedleston Hall is an example of this in England, as is Villa Capra in Italy. Most houses contained a secondary floor above the piano nobile which contained more intimate withdrawing and bedrooms for private use by the family of the house when no honoured guest were present. Above this floor would often be an attic floor containing staff bedrooms. In Italy, especially in town palazzi, the floor above the piano nobile is sometimes referred to as the "second piano nobile", especially if the loggias and balconies reflect those below on a slightly smaller scale. This term while often used is technically incorrect as the piano nobile always contains the grandest rooms, therefore the secondary floor by its very name cannot be as grand. This term is not used in Britain. This arrangement of floors continued throughout Europe for as long as large houses continued to be built in the classical styles. This arrangement was designed at Buckingham Palace as recently as the mid 19th century. Holkham Hall, Osterley Park and Chiswick House are 18th century English houses which employed this design. Architectural elements
Piano nobile
I replaced the sentence :''The piano nobile is often the second floor above a service floor in the rustic style.'' because I couldn't attach meaning to the expression rustic style and because it's highly unclear whether the "second floor" is British or American. (I suggest that this is a European subject and should be written in British, but I can see there might be other opinions.) The suggestion that the piano nobile is sometimes the second (third) floor rather than the first (second) comes from the German Wikipedia. ::Defined "rustic" as used as the architectural term. It doesn't really matter which level is used as the Piano nobile can be on any except the ground. User:Giano | User talk:Giano 09:34, 28 May 2005 (UTC) Would it be correct and useful to mention that the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. is built on such a plan? :*I don't think the Library of Congress is a very good example. Indisputably it has a "piano nobile", (i.e. its most important floor) but as the library is really a public building, and the piano nobile does not contain a suite of principle reception rooms in the way that is generally understood by the term. You can add it if you want, I wouldn't revert, but is is not the best example to illustrate the subject. User:Giano | User talk:Giano 10:07, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
P
PA | PB | PC | PD | PE | PF | PG | PH | PI | PJ | PK | PL | PM | PN | PO | PR | PS | PT | PU | PW | PX | PY | PZ |Words begining with Piano_nobile:
Piano_nobile
Piano_nobile
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