The Christianity of Prato and of Tuscany in general is mainly centred around the worship of the Virgin Mary. In particular, in Prato there is an abundance of sacred buildings dedicated to Her and one of the most important is the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri, built around the XV century.

The construction of this sanctuary was realized around a sacred picture representing the Virgin Mary with the Holy Child that is depicted on a wall in the prison of the Stinche and it is at the centre of a deep popular devotion. In effect, this picture has been attributed many miracles.
At the beginning, Giuliano da Maiano participated to the construction process, but later the work was finished by the famous architect Giuliano da Sangallo, as ordered by Lorenzo de' Medici.
The completion of this building was carried out between 1486 and 1495, even if the external facing, conceived according to the traditional use of white and green, had never been finished.
The appearance of the Basilica recalls the most famous Florentine architectures, such as Santa Maria Novella, San Miniato and the Baptistery. The inside, with its Greek cross and its central dome, puts into evidence the analogies with the style of the famous Renaissance architects Alberti and Brunelleschi.
The Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri houses numerous works by Andrea della Robbia on the inside. He was an exponent of a well-known dynasty of ceramists whose decorations are present in a copious series of sacred and civil buildings in Tuscany.
The glazed earthenware frieze of the trabeation and the four tondi of the dome depicting the four evangelists can be admired inside the sanctuary.
Instead, the stained glass windows representing the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Visitation are works made by the Ghirlandaio. The worshipped fresco of the Virgin Mary with the Holy Child, dating to the XIV century at least, stands out on the high altar, sided by one of the painter Antonio Marini's canvases, realized between 1788 and 1861.