Prato and Pistoia

Located between Florence and Pistoia, Prato has always sought to build its own identity by decorating the city with artworks capable of testifying its importance. However, the city is mostly recognizable for its devotional aspect. The custodian city of the precious Holy Girdle of Mary relic, Prato features many masterpieces, such as the external pulpit of the Duomo by Donatello or the Chapel where the Girdle is still kept today. The rise to power of the Medici led important artists to visit Prato, including Donatello and Filippo Lippi, who adopted an innovative fresco technique to decorate the walls of the Cathedral chancel with stories relating to the patron saint of the city, Saint Stephen, and other about Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence. Furthermore, Lorenzo the Magnificent called his favourite architect, Giuliano da Sangallo, to Prato to build the church of Santa Maria delle Carceri in accordance with the new Renaissance principles and spirit. The civic pride of the city is instead represented by the medieval Palazzo Pretorio and the massive Castle, the only example of Frederician architecture in central Italy, where we can climb to the top of the battlements and observe the surrounding city just like ancient guards once did.

Pistoia strikes visitors with its elegance. Its narrow and winding streets and small squares, true jewels of medieval city planning, still conserve traces of a laborious past dominated by artisanal workshops. We will start from the square featuring the main monuments of the city: piazza del Duomo with the Cathedral dedicated to San Zeno and the Baptistery of Saint John, the palazzo dei Vescovi, the Palazzo degli Anziani and the Municipal Palace. The true heart of the city is however Piazza della Sala, which once hosted the curtis domini regis, i.e. the Palace of Gastaldo. The square still hosts a daily fruit and vegetables market, just as it did in the past. Our tour will then lead us to the church of Saint Andrew, where we will see the splendid pulpit made by Giovanni Pisano at the beginning of the 14^th century. Our final stop is the frieze of the Ospedale del Ceppo, a secular local institution featuring marvellous glazed terracottas on its outer walls, depicting the Seven works of Mercy in a fully Renaissance work made by the Buglioni workshop.