The Italian term Pietre Dure-translates as "hard, hard stones". In the English language field, it sounds like hardstones – hard stones. In the Italian language, this terminology covers all the peaks of stone-cutting art – stone mosaics, engraving and ornamental artistic stone carving, in the form of three-dimensional objects. Treasures made in the Pietre Dure technique from the palaces of Europe imply the full Italian meaning of this term. In modern life, the often encountered English, Russian and international term "Florentine Mosaic" was developed and applied to the tourism industry, but it has entered life everywhere as the name of the mosaic process. In the Italian language, there is a word closer to the Florentine method "Commesso", translated as a mosaic made of marble (stone). The term Commesso meant a mosaic made of Pietre Dure (made of marble and other hard stones) and meant the required hardness and durability of the materials used in this work, as well as the technique of creating paintings from thin plates of brightly colored semi-precious and ornamental stones joined together.

The method was developed in Florence during the late Renaissance, at the end of the XVI century, so it received the broader trade name Florentine Mosaic