250px, External frescoes. Palazzo Datini is a late 14th-century palace in

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In 2015, the palace housed the offices of the Fondazione Casa Pia dei Ceppi, a charitable organization and a museum and archive.

History

Begun in 1383 as the residence of merchant Francesco Datini, it was subsequently decorated by artists such as

Agnolo Gaddi Agnolo Gaddi (c.1350–1396) was an Italian painter. He was born and died in Florence, and was the son of the painter Taddeo Gaddi,who was himself the major pupil of the Florentine master Giotto. Agnolo was a painter and mosaicist, trained ...

and

Niccolò di Pietro Gerini Niccolò di Pietro Gerini ( 1340 – 1414) was an Italian painter of the late Gothic period, active mainly in his native Florence although he also carried out commissions in Pisa and Prato. He was not an innovative painter but relied on tradi ...

, both internally and externally, although the latter paintings are rather damaged. It once included, in front of the current façade, a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

which was among the first ones in Italy. In 1409 the palazzo was visited by Pope Alexander V and Louis II of Anjou, King of Naples. After Datini's death, all the papers from his archive were shut in a wall of the buildings; they were discovered, nearly intact, in the 19th century and are now housed, for a total of some 150,000 documents, in the building.Museo Casa Francesco Datini
Prato.

Filippo Lippi Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a Carmelite Priest. Biography Lippi was born in Florence in 1406 to Tommaso, a butcher, and his wife. He was orp ...

's ''

Madonna del Ceppo The ''Madonna del Ceppo'' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi, commissioned to him between 1452 and 1453. It is housed in the Civic Museum of Prato, Italy (though exposed in the local Museum of Wall Painting, in the Pa ...

'' was once located in the palace's garden.

References

{{Authority control Houses completed in the 14th century Datini