Mondays in Prato
Slow Prato Tour
It’s Monday morning, and in many cities across Tuscany, the museums are closed. A classic tour dedicated to the historic centre (and to the biscuits of Prato) is a great choice to start the week well.
Accompanied by an expert tour guide, visit the frescoes by Fiippo Lippi in the Prato Cathedral, as well as the museum which houses Donatello’s original pulpit. The tour then goes to piazza del Comune where we find the spectacular medieval Palazzo Pretorio which is now a gallery housing masterpieces such as the polyptych by Giovanni da Milano and paintings by Filippo Lippi, as well as works by Lorenzo Bartolini and Jacques Lipchitz.
The tour will last three hours and includes a visit to two museums: the Palazzo Pretorio museum, where the paintings of the Cathedral are preserved, and the Museum of the Cathedral’s work.
The tour ends with a biscuit tasting.
Industrial tourism and heritage
In the afternoon, the tour starts in the historic centre, before cycling along the banks of the Bisenzio river, undertaking a sustainable tour to visit the centuries-old Cavalciotto dam. Dating to Medieval times, the structure permitted the creation of a 50-kilometer-long canal network, along which the first textile mills and factories were built. Everything begins with the Bisenzio River, river of Prato. This river played a crucial role in the installation and deveolpment of textie manufacturing
In the last few years Prato is implementing its urban regeneration plan. Several monuments of industrial archeology are, indeed, given new life and destination.
Prato city Library and Textile Museum are an excellent example of this regeneration and sustanaibility, since they are housed in a building previously dedicated to textile manufacturing.
This tour lasts three hours.
Donation: € 49 per person (minim 2 people).
Prato Card museum is highly recommended, it includes Palazzo Pretorio, Prato Cathedral Museum, Textile Museum and Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art and it lasts four days.
