Prato from - and for - American Eyes
(by Alick M. McLean)
The first city I visited after Florence and Rome was Prato, where I arrived at the main station, located a distance from the medieval center. As I made my way from the station, a series of new buildings greeted me with the twentieth century, when I expected the fourteenth. Although they are not particularly noteworthy as monuments, they gave me the sensation of being in a city that was very much alive. After reminding me of the present— even with a Henry Moore statue punctuating my route—Prato then thrilled me with its past, first with the white crystalline geometry of Frederick II’s Castello dell’ Imperatore, then with the city walls, the Piazza San Francesco, the Palazzo Datini, the Palazzo Pretorio and PaIazzo Comunale, the avelli of San Domenico, and finally the Duomo of Santo Stefano and its piazza.
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