Thousands Gather in Prato to Celebrate Chinese New Year Amid Rain

Prato: Thousands of umbrella-toting residents and tourists braved the rain to mark the Chinese New Year in Prato Sunday, the Tuscan city with the highest percentage of Chinese inhabitants in Italy. About 25 thousand citizens of the People’s Republic are resident in Tuscany’s third largest city, 30 km northeast of Florence, out of a total of 200 thousand inhabitants, many of them having found work in the local textile industry for which Prato is famous. It is the second biggest Chinese community in Italy after Milan.

According to Ansa News Agency, revellers crowded the traditional Dragon parade route as they celebrated the start of the year of the Snake, a sign of rebirth in the Eastern zodiac. On Sunday morning, around 9, the parade started from the Pu Hua Si Buddhist Temple, in Piazza della Gualchierina. Then, after crossing the Macrolotto Zero, the Prato Chinatown, the procession stopped in Piazza del Comune, where the mayor of Prato, Ilaria Bugetti, was waiting for the participants.

The final act was in Piazza Santa Maria delle Carceri, with a series of dance and music performances. Yi Qi, the Consul General of China in Florence, also participated in this last initiative.