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Prato is a small but
thriving Tuscan city, with a beautiful historic centre and a vibrant
cultural and economic life. Famous for its textile industry, the city
has a population of some 180,000 inhabitants, a growing percentage of
whom are immigrants from mainland China, the Indian sub-continent, north
and west Africa and elsewhere. The communal, provincial and regional
governments, progressive in outlook, are active in European community
affairs, and have welcomed the presence of an Australian academic
institution in the heart of their city.
Prato has a rich
historical and artistic patrimony, including a mid 13th century castle
built by the Hohenstaufen Emperors, almost perfectly preserved medieval
walls which enclose the ancient city centre, a Romanesque cum Gothic
cathedral dedicated to San Stefano with an external pulpit by Donatello
and Michelozzo, the church of S.Maria delle Carceri by Giuliano San
Gallo, and the well preserved Palazzo Datini, the fifteenth century home
of the famous 'Merchant of Prato', Francesco Datini.
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