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Prato has been connected for over 35 years through twinning with two German-speaking cities but with very different origins.
Thus, all three towns have commonalities such as striving for similar values, long-standing tradition (different in each town) and participation in the CERV programme. However, they also differ in their historical background, certain city/community structures, the lifestyle of the population and finally the overall image of the municipality (Ebensee as a small town, Wangen as a small city, Prato as a medium-sized big city).
The target of the CERV programme is to give young people the opportunity to gain a detailed insight into all three environments, to experience the similarities and differences for themselves and thus to realise how valuable this diversity of living conditions in Europe is and that we citizens should appreciate it. Because this is the prerequisite for a secure and, above all, common future in Europe.
In the city of Ebensee there is a commemorative site of a concentration camp, built during the Second World War. To which numerous citizens of Prato were deported between 1944 and 1945.
The Prato-Ebensee twinning was established in 1987 on the initiative of the City of Prato and the Prato association of ANED (National Association of Ex Deported Persons). This twinning is a pact full of meaning: overcome the horrors of imprisonment in the concentration camp. The relationship aims on one hand to manage to pass on the testimonies of what has happened, while on the other to undertake any useful initiative aimed at strengthening friendship and peace in Europe.
Through the two Documentation Centers (in Figline at Prato and Ebensee) and the Viaggi della Memoria (Travel of Memory), the exchange program has the task of keeping historical memory alive and intensifying relations between the citizens of the two municipalities.
The first contacts between Wangen and Prato came to be on the occasion of the Corteggio Storico, the city festival that takes place every September 8th in the Tuscan city.
40 years ago a folk group from Wangen, which also included some Italian immigrants in Germany, took part in the historic parade thus starting the friendship between the two cities.
With the joint concert of the Prato Cathedral Choir and the St. Ulrich Choir, those regular meetings were strengthened which led to the natural need to formalize and institutionalize the relationship between the cities in 1988.
The twinning between Prato and Wangen has immediately implemented a very rich calendar of cultural and educational activities. Activities that have not lost their effectiveness over the years, on the contrary, have each time increased both institutional and social relationships.
PRATO (ITALY)
Prato is a textile city, therefore known as a working-class city with a long tradition. Solidarity has a very important value for its inhabitants. This idea of community and solidarity is also lived through the many volunteering, social and cultural associations, which also include those dedicated to exchanges with the twin cities.
Third city in central Italy (after Rome and Florence) is located on one of the main communication routes between central Italy and Northern Europe, through the Apennines,:
Prato has always maintained contacts with German-speaking countries.
The collaborations of the textile companies in the area have further intensified, thanks to the strong development of the textile industry and the consequent increase in exports since the nineteenth century. Prato also presents itself as a lively multi-ethnic community.
Prato also presents itself as a lively multi-ethnic community. To date, most schools in the city offer the German language within their curriculum and many students learn German as a second foreign language