Prato is a textile city just 17 km from Florence, so close that the two nearly merge. Most visitors to Tuscany skip it entirely, which is a shame — behind the industrial outskirts lies a walled medieval centre with a Cathedral of Saint Stephen that rivals anything in Florence, a Castello dell'Imperatore built by Frederick II, and the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio with a fine collection of Filippo Lippi paintings. The Centro Pecci is one of Italy's best contemporary art museums.
Prato is also the home of Italy's largest Chinese community, giving it a food scene that ranges from traditional Tuscan trattorie to excellent Chinese restaurants — a combination you will not find elsewhere in Tuscany. The local specialty is the cantucci di Prato, the dry almond biscuits made to the same recipe since 1858 at Pasticceria Mattei and traditionally dunked in vin santo. The Piazza del Comune is presided over by a statue of Francesco Datini, the medieval wool merchant whose archive is one of the most extraordinary business records in history.