Prato and the Bisenzio by bike

If you love to get around by bicycle without excessive physical exertion, Prato is an ideal starting point for occasional, short-range bicycle tours on paved or stabilized dirt bike paths, discovering unusual prospects of the city and major tourist attractions. 

If you arrive by train with a bicycle, you can immediately take a ride downtown and ride between churches, palaces, and medieval towers to reach the Dome, custodian of the frescoes by Filippo Lippi, with its striking Donatello Pulpit and the city's main squares. Carve out time for a brief food and wine stop and delight your palate with two must-try specialties: the peaches of Prato and the almond cookies. Once you refresh, you will feel full of energy riding and arriving in front of the Emperor's Castle, you will be fascinated by its grandeur! Then you will arrive at the Museo del Tessuto (Textile Museum) and in piazza San Marco, where Henry Moore's peculiar art sculpture Squared Shape with Cut will let you indulge in the most curious interpretations. 

Skirting the ancient walls along the bike-pedestrian path, a nice ride along the banks of the Bisenzio will bring you to the end of the itinerary, which is possible in two different variants (northward to the bridge over the Rio Buti or southward to the village of Gonfienti), or you can continue on other routes along the river, in the surrounding hills or towards the Bisenzio Valley.

The route is totally flat and has no critical issues.

If you wish to do so, the route can be divided into two, doing only the downtown part (5 kilometers) or the loop of the two banks of the Bisenzio river, along the Coppi and Bartali bike paths.