Prato, an ancient textile city

A bit the symbol of the city is the beautiful fountain that we find in the Piazza del Comune.

The chubby boy sitting on bunches of grapes can only be the god Bacchus when he was young. The decorative bronze fountain was created in the 18th century when Prato obtained the rights of the city. In the square, however, we see a copy, the original we find not far in the atrium of the Palazzo Comunale.

This building seems to be from the same time as the fountain but the appearance deceives. It was actually built in the Middle Ages, in the '200. In the beautiful Council Hall we can admire two frescoes of the '400 and a collection of portraits of the '600.

Prato has always been the city of textiles and the interesting Textile Museum is located on the ground floor of the Palazzo Comunale.

Also on the same square we also see the Palazzo Pretorio. The ancient construction is clearly divided into several parts. It was the old town hall and in the '400 since the merger of three palaces this building was composed.

You can still see the old houses clearly, colors and styles are very different within the same building. The red part is the oldest part, of the '300 while the part with the beautiful windows was from the '400. The unified palace was the seat of the municipal government and the court.

The textile merchant Francesco Datini also dealt with fabrics in the '400. He was definitely rich and had a building built that took his name. He was not paying attention to the expense and important artists frescoed walls and ceilings. The exterior was also decorated but those paintings are almost completely invisible today.

Datini hosted popes and kings in his luxurious home. At his death, he had all his documents, correspondence and accounting walled in a narrow compartment in the building.

This treasure of information was found only in the 1900s and is a very important source for scholars. The collection is now located in the Datini Archive, inside the building.