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Around 1313 Giovanni Pisano went to Prato to produce the Madonna della Cintola, and perhaps for designs relating to the extension of the choir of the Cathedral, started in those years.
The Madonna della Cintola, securely attributed to Giovanni, is wrapped in swirling draperies, which give it a sense of movement. It is located in the Chapel of the Sacro Cingolo preserving the Sacra Cintola, the belt which, according to ancient traditions, was given to St Thomas by the Virgin during the Assumption, and arrived in Prato in the 12th century.
The chapel, built in 1386-90, is frescoed with Stories of the Virgin and the Girdle, a cycle of surprising figurative unity, painted in 1392-95 by Agnolo Gaddi.
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