NORTHERN TUSCANY - Florence and Tuscany - page 179

Prato y
Prato has been one of Italy's most important textile-
manufacturing cities since the 13th century. One of its
most famous citizens was the immensely wealthy
Francesco di Marco Datini (1330-1410), who has been
immortalized by Iris Origo in The Merchant of Prato
(1957). Datini left all his money to charity, and the city
contains several reminders of him, particularly in his
own Palazzo Datini. Prato also attracts pilgrims from all
over Italy who come to see the Virgin's Girdle, a prized
relic kept in the Duomo and on view five times a year.

also houses the reliquary
(1446) made for the Girdle by
Maso di Bartolomeo, and St
Lucy by Filippino Lippi, the
son of Fra Filippo Lippi.

Madonna del Ceppo by Fra Filippo
Lippi in the Museo Civico

P

Piazza del Comune
The streets around the Duomo
contain several important build-
ings. The city's main street, Via
Mazzoni, leads west to the
Piazza del Comune with its
Bacchus fountain. The original,
made in 1659, is in the nearby
Palazzo Comunale.

Lippi's Madonna del Ceppo ,
featuring a portrait of France-
sco Datini, a patron of the
Ceppo charity (see p187) .
During restoration work, many
paintings are on display at the
Museo di Pittura Murale (Piazza
S Domenico 8, 0574 440 501).

Duomo façade and pulpit

E

Palazzo Datini
Via Ser Lapo Mazzei 43.
Tel [phone].

R

Duomo
Piazza del Duomo. Tel [phone].
#

E

Museo Civico
Palazzo Pretorio, Piazza del Comune
19. Tel [phone].
¢

# 9am-12pm,

7am-noon, 3:30-7pm Mon-Sat;
7am-1pm, 3:30-8pm Sun.
The Duomo stands on the
main square, with the Pulpit of
the Holy Girdle to the right of
its façade, its frieze of dancing
cherubs designed by Donatello
(1438). Inside, the first chapel
on the left holds the Virgin's
Girdle, which is displayed
from the pulpit on religious
holidays. Frescoes by Agnolo
Gaddi (1392-5) relate how
the girdle reached Prato. In
1141 a local merchant married
a Palestinian woman who
brought it with her after
inheriting it from the Apostle
Thomas, who had been given
it by the Virgin herself. Also
in the Duomo is Fra Filippo
Lippi's masterpiece, The Life
of John the Baptist (1452-66).

4-7:30pm Mon-Sat. 7

This house where Francesco
Datini lived is now a museum.
Its archive contains 140,000
business letters and Datini's
account topics, on which Iris
Origo based her biography.

(see Museo
dell'Opera del Duomo).

for restoration. &

partial.
The Museo Civico houses the
altar painting The Story of the
Holy Girdle by Bernardo Daddi
(1312-48) and Fra Filippo

7

E

Museo dell'Opera del
Duomo
Piazza del Duomo 49. Tel [phone]
39.

# 10am-1pm, 3-6:30pm Mon-

Sat. (a cumulative ticket allows

entry at the Museo Civico and the
Castello dell'Imperatore, see p189 ).
7

&

partial.
Donatello's original panels
for the Holy Girdle pulpit are
on display here. The museum

The Story of the Holy Girdle by Bernardo Daddi in the Museo Civico