Prato

For 2025 Prato applies a flat municipal IRPEF surcharge of 0.5%. The city reduces the Tari waste tax for households with an ISEE up to 20,000 euros, on top of the national social bonus, and opens a rent-support call every year. OMI rents and prices are in the data.

Public housing across the whole province is allocated through a single call that the Comune di Prato publishes at least every four years: the 2025 call closed on 7 January 2026 and the next is expected around 2029. Private tenants can apply each year for the city's rent grant. OMI rents and prices are in the data.

Newcomers must apply for residence in Prato within 20 days, online through ANPR or the city's service; a Polizia Locale check follows. The centre has a 24-hour ZTL, a daytime ZTL and a controlled-traffic zone, with online permits. The Lazzerini library is in the former Campolmi factory.

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

Prato is on the Bologna–Florence and Florence–Lucca railways, with three stations (Centrale, Porta al Serraglio, Borgonuovo); the urban bus network is run by Autolinee Toscane. The A1 and A11 motorways reach the city; Florence airport is about half an hour's drive.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

The Nuovo Ospedale Santo Stefano on via Suor Niccolina Infermiera is the city hospital of the Azienda USL Toscana Centro. Bookings via the single CUP number 055 54 54 54; out-of-hours doctor on 116117, active in the province of Prato since September 2024.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

A textile district in long decline (yarns, fabrics, recycled wool) and a growing garment sector driven by thousands of Chinese-owned firms. Employment above the Tuscan and national averages, with industry the largest employer; the November 2023 flood halted many industrial areas for weeks.

A VAT number (partita IVA) from the Agenzia delle Entrate for freelancers; for businesses the Comunicazione Unica to the Registro delle Imprese, which also notifies the Agenzia, INPS, INAIL and SUAP. Main forms: sole proprietorship, SNC/SAS, SRL and SRLS, SPA. Compulsory PEC, annual chamber fee, e-invoicing. Invitalia incentives; non-EU citizens need a self-employment permit or the investor visa.

The Prato university campus (Fondazione PIN) hosts eight University of Florence degree courses, including Textile and Fashion Design, Nursing, Business Economics and an English-taught master's in urban planning. Australia's Monash University has its own centre in Palazzo Vaj.

The city of the merchant Datini and of the Holy Girdle, the relic kept in the Cathedral and shown five times a year from the pulpit by Donatello and Michelozzo. Today it is one of Italy's most multi-ethnic cities, with the Chinese community by far the largest foreign one.

Prato's two ARPAT monitoring stations stayed within legal limits for PM10, PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide in 2023 and 2024. The main risk is flooding: the flood that began on 2 November 2023 hit the province and halted many industrial areas for weeks.

The Cathedral with Donatello's pulpit and frescoes by Lippi and Paolo Uccello, the Emperor's Castle (the only example of Swabian architecture in north-central Italy, free entry), the Textile Museum in a former factory and the Pecci Centre for contemporary art. On 8 September, the Girdle ostension and the historical parade.

Biscotti di Prato, mortadella di Prato PGI, peaches and stuffed celery Prato-style; the Cascine di Tavola park, a former Medici estate, and the cycle paths along the Bisenzio; in summer, concerts and open-air cinema in the Emperor's Castle.