Prato is a city and province in North-east Tuscany. A town with about 185,600 people and a total area of 97.60 km², Prato is particularly well known for its great production of textiles.

The city of Prato is located at the foot of Mount Retaia in a mainly flat territory and bordered by the Ombrone Pistoiese River, to the south, and the Bisenzio River to the north.

The origins of the city are lost in ancient times, although we do know that during the Palaeolithic period there was a primitive settlement that later expanded. Under the Etruscans, Prato became an important city, but subsequently submitted to the domain of the Roman Empire. Starting from the Middle Ages onwards, the village suffered under the control of the Lombards, the Byzantines, the Florentine Republic and the Medici family, before becoming part of the Kingdom of Italy.

A textile-city, Prato spent many centuries dedicating its unique craft skills to the construction of a number of stylistically elegant churches and cathedrals, each of which celebrates its own special event or saint. These include the Church of Santa Maria della Pieta, built in the first two decades of the 1600s; the Church of Santa Maria delle Carceri, a Renaissance building; the Church of Santa Maria del Giglio, almost completely rebuilt in 1680; and finally, the Church of Santa Maria del Rescue, a shrine built to the designs of Alfonso Parigi il Vecchio . Luckily for the rest of Italy’s blessed saints, Prato found the time to dedicate some churches to others rather than Mary. The Church of St. Augustine, dating back to 1271 and partly restored during the fifteenth century is one of them, but there is also the Basilica of Saints Vincenzo and Caterina De’Ricci, built in 1400 and finished a century later; the Church of Sant’Andrea, originally made of mud; and the Church and Monastery of St. Nicholas, whose origins lie in the fourteenth century.

In terms of secular buildings, Prato has many monuments hidden in its streets which reflect the city’s passion for craft work, politics and striking architecture. One of the oldest school buildings in the entire territory, the Cicognini Children’s National State School, was built at the end of the seventeenth century. The Palazzo Datini, which dates back to 1383, was the creation of some of the most important Florentine artists of the time. The Palazzo degli Alberti is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The Magnolfi Orphanage, a building once used as a sanctuary for the Carmelite friars and sold in 1800 to Gaetano Magnolfi who turned it into an orphanage which taught skills of the artisan and carpenter. And finally the Villa del Palco, erected in the 1300s.