17km (11 miles) NW of Florence; 333km (206 miles) N of Rome
Poor Prato is overlooked by too many sightseers simply because it seems too close to Florence to be different. What they're missing is one of northern Tuscany's most open, friendly, and lively cities, one with a modest repository of heavyweight art treasures from the likes of Donatello and Filippo Lippi as well as a glittering collection of early Renaissance altarpieces. The city was probably an Etruscan campsite and later meadow (prato in Italian) market site that quickly developed into a stable Lombard town around A.D. 900. It has always been a thriving trade center and was a free commune from 1140 until 1351, when Florence bought it from its nominal lord and set it up as an ally state. Prato is the region's fastest-growing city, a hard-working community that helps debunk the myth of the lackadaisical Italian with a millennium of serious commitment to its economy. The Pratese also know how to roll up their sleeves and enjoy themselves, with festivals, lively bars, and what is perhaps Tuscany's top theater.
The textile industry has been important since the Middle Ages and was the foundation of the medieval wealth of early Pratese capitalists like Francesco Datini, the famous Merchant of Prato; it's going stronger than ever today, as is other light industry. The town is proud to assume the moniker "Prato: Industrial City," which is nicer than its Anglo nickname, snorted somewhat derisively, the "Manchester of Tuscany." And the Pratese are positively elated that their expanding economic empire has allowed the city to become the third largest in Tuscany, in recognition of which regional officials in 1992 carved out a sliver of a new province with Prato as its capital.
