I find it very interesting that the piano was invented in Italy, and includes both strings, and a type of "percussion" (hammers striking strings).
In Italy?thats really interesting indeed! Never know Italy was a musically inclined nation
Yes! Chrisofaro Bartolomei apparently was an apprentice to a violin maker before he invented the piano.
Nice any more information?
Nothing is known of his early life. A tale is told that he served as an apprentice to the great violin maker Nicolò Amati, based on the appearance in a 1680 census record of a "Christofaro Bartolomei" living in Amati's house in Cremona. However, as Stewart Pollens points out, this person cannot be Bartolomeo Cristofori, since the census records an age of 13, whereas Cristofori according to his baptismal record would have been 25 at the time. Pollens also gives strong reasons to doubt the authenticity of the
Piano
The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain), in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. 
The word piano is a shortened form of "pianoforte", the Italian term for the early 1700s versions