Prato's historic center presents cobbled streets and Romanesque churches, while neighborhoods beyond its walls like Via Pistoiese and Via Fabio Filzi display Chinese shops, red lanterns, and Mandarin speech. Since the late 1980s, large numbers of Chinese immigrants sustained the 'Made in Italy' label by supplying cheap labor and fast production, transforming traditional craft-based garment manufacturing. The successful Chinese production model attracted more migrants and created a dense Chinese community, reaching over 27,000 residents by 2021, about 15% of the city's population. Many migrants arrived seeking better earnings, later opening businesses, though tighter regulations have made operations harder.
Cobbled streets, fountains, and Romanesque churches walking through Prato's historic center feels like stepping into a romanticized version of old Europe. But just beyond the city walls, in neighborhoods like Via Pistoiese and Via Fabio Filzi, the landscape shifts. Red lanterns hang above supermarkets stocked with Chinese goods, signs advertise food and snacks, and the air hums with Mandarin and regional dialects.
"At that time, Europe seemed like paradise," recalls Li Qiu (name changed), from Zhejiang, China, who came to Italy in 2007. Her relatives had already come at the end of the last century to work in textiles. She said that in those years, everyone around her was "making big money in euros and bringing it back." She also came to Prato to work as a textile worker and pursue her "Italian dream."
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