Pistoia and Prato

This might be the shortest and least informative posting ever. Sarah and I took the regional train one Sunday to Pistoia and then came back towards Florence, stopping in Prato along the way.


This picture has nothing to do with that trip. I think this was the night before. We went out to dinner for our friend Paola's birthday. Here is a picture of the four roommates, or coinquiline, as the Italians say. That's Kellin sitting on me (as is her wont -- just kidding, I assure you that this is not a common occurrence), Mr. Christopher Edward Tangeman, Sarah, and Sarah.


This is Pistoia. Or at least its cathedral and bell tower. Pistoia is a town about 20 miles northwest of Florence. It is most famous to me as the home of Scott Palmer (serials librarian at I Tatti), his wife Monica Steletti (fellow library assistant at I Tatti), and their kids Isabella and Samuele.


Pistoia's Duomo, the Cathedral of San Zeno, features some of the work of one of those darn della Robbia brothers.


We explored the Palazzo del comune, which has a small art collection.


Unrelated. I just like the tower.


A fly painted on the 8 lb. 4 oz. Baby Jesus.


This is part of the exterior of the Ospedale del Ceppo, a medieval hospital.


A street. I love medieval streets.


This is the Chiesa di San Bartolomeo in Pantano. I have no memory of this place.


Our last stop in Pistoia was the Pieve di Sant'Andrea with the Pulpit of St. Andrew by Giovanni Pisano. He also created amazing pulpits in Pisa and Siena.

We then took the train back towards Florence, stopping in Prato. Prato is right in between Pistoia and Florence and is the second largest city in Tuscany with around 187,000 people. Also, since the late 1980's it has had a large Chinese immigrant population. This is the second largest Chinese population in Italy. Legally there are over 9,000 Chinese citizens but it is estimated that there are almost 45,000 Chinese immigrants in Prato. That neighborhood is where we headed in search of a more authentic Chinese meal than is available in Florence. What we had was good, but I think it was similar to most restaurants in the States. For some reason I have no pictures from our exploits in Prato. I think we went to a church.

There you have it. We then hopped back on the regional train to Florence. I think it was a very laid back trip and a lot of things were closed because it was a Sunday. The end.