..:: PRATO ::..

Prato is a city in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato.

Historically, the economy of Prato has been based upon the textile industry. The renowned Datini archives are a significant archive of early medieval documents produced years between 1363 and 1410. The Textile Museum also reflects this history.

Prato is also a centre of the slow food movement, with many other local specialities, including cantucci, a type of biscotti, sold by local speciality bakers.

Since the late 1950s, the city has been a target of a great immigration, first from southern Italy, then other nationalities. Since the late 1980s a large Chinese community has settled in the city. With more than 180,000 inhabitants, Prato is Tuscany's second largest city and the third largest in Central Italy, after Rome and Florence.

HISTORY

In 1512 the city was sacked by the Spanish troops assembled by Pope Julius II to recover the nearby city of Florence for the Medici family. The severity of the sack of Prato led to the surrender of the Florentine Republic to a restoration of Medici rule. The Army slaughtered 50,600 Pratesi in the streets very barbarically.

MAIN SIGHTS

Prato is home to many museums and other cultural monuments, including the Filippo Lippi frescoes in the Cathedral of Santo Stefano, currently under restoration. The Cathedral has an external pulpit by Donatello.

Palazzo Pretorio was built from the 13th century in red bricks. The part in white stone is from late-Gothic era. In the 16th century an external staircase and a watch were added. Also notable is the Palazzo Datini, built from 1383 for the merchant Francesco Datini. It has decorations by Florentine artists like Agnolo Gaddi and Niccolò Gerini. In 1409 it housed Pope Alexander V and Louis of Anjou. The Palazzo degli Alberti (12th century) is home to an art gallery with works by Filippo Lippi (Prato Madonna), Giovanni Bellini (Crucifix with Jew Cemetary) and Caravaggio (The Crowning with Thorns).

A further major attraction of the city is the Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci a museum and education centre concerned with contemporary arts.

Other churches include:

• Santa Maria delle Carceri, commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici to Giuliano da Sangallo in 1484. It is one Greek cross plan, inspired to Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel. Works lasted for some twenty years. The interior is run by a bichromatic maiolica frieze by Luca della Robbia, also author of four tondos depicting the four Evangelists in the cupola. The external façade is unfinished, only the western part being completed in the 19th century according to Sangallo's design.

• Sant'Agostino, built from 1440 over an existing edifice from 1271.

• San Domenico (begun in 1281), with a portal from 1310.

• San Francesco (1281-1331). It houses a notable funerary monument of Gemriniano Inghirami (died 1460), and the frescoes by Niccolò Gerini in the Migliorati Chapel.

• San Fabiano, already existing in 1082. It houses precious traces of a pavement mosaic dating from the 9th-11th centuries. Also notable is the 15th century bell tower.

• the late-Baroque Monastery of San Vincenzo.

Prato is also the home of the Monash University Centre. The Centre is now the largest Australian academic institution of its kind in Europe, providing a strong link between Australian scholars, students, and their European counterparts, as well as providing English-language training. The centre hosts many international conferences in its heritage-listed building.

NOTABLE CITIZENS

• Nicolo Albertini, cardinal, in the 1200s

• Francesco Datini, merchant in the 1300s, "the merchant of Prato"

• Filippino Lippi, painter in the 1500s

• Lorenzo Bartolini, sculptor, 1777-1850

• Curzio Malaparte, writer, 1898-1957

• Fiorenzo Magni, cyclist, 1920-

• Roberto Benigni, actor and director (actually born near Arezzo but he used to live in Prato with the family.)

• Jury Chechi, gymnast, olympic gold medalist

• Domenico Zipoli, composer, 1688-1726

• Paolo Rossi, soccer player, World Champion, European Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year in 1982

• Christian Vieri, soccer player

From: WIKIPEDIA