Ancient and contemporary history unite in the city of Prato: neolithic and the Bronze Age, witnessed by the archaeological remains and the “Stazione Musteriana” with its origins of 35,000 years ago; the Etruscan village; the Roman occupation, the middle ages, from which the town walls originate, the towers, the cathedral dedicated to Santo Stefano, the Palazzo Pretorio, the Emporer’s castle built for Federico II, one of the oldest Swabian castles one can visit; the history of Florence, from Medici rule and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to the present day.
Prato became a province in 1992, after an industrial expansion based on textiles which has made it the second most populous city of Tuscany, after Florence, and which made it celebrated as “the city of 100 chimneys”, because of the presence of numerous textile factories with tall brick smoke-stacks, which either disappeared in the post-war period or have been preserved as remains of industrial archaeology.
The municipalities included in this area are all those of Prato province: Cantagallo, Carmignano, Montemurlo, Poggio a Caiano, Prato, Vernio, Vaiano.
