Tuscany - Prato province
I have passed many times by this young State, even when its territory belonged to Florence. Only once but I was at Prato, the capital, for tourism purposes. On that occasion I visited the Romanesque Duomo, which houses the relic of the waist, according to tradition it belonged to the Virgin Mary. At one corner of the front rises the Pergamon sacred to track, in practice a pulpit external semicircular topped by a roof overlooking the square. Inside there are frescoes by Filippo Lippi in the choir, the Chapel of the sacred track with the precious relic and a statue of the Madonna and Child by Giovanni Pisano. The old town mostly surrounded by walls, presents a number of other emergencies such as stands the medieval Palazzo Pretorio, the mighty castle dell'Imperatore built by Frederick II of Swabia and Piazza del Mercatale, one of the largest in Italy. Outside the walls, as shown by the incomprehensible written on signboards of shops, whole areas are inhabited by the Chinese community, the largest in Italy, the third in Europe. The Museum of Textiles is the largest of its kind in Italy, which is fairly obvious given that Prato is the Italian capital in this sector.
In the Province, I visited around Artimino Villa La Fernanda "also called" the 100 chimneys "for many chimneys on the roof. On another occasion I came by chance in the picturesque village of Carmignano set on a hill near Poggio a Caiano.