Chapter 1 examines Agnolo Gaddi’s work between 1392 and 1395 in the chapel in Prato cathedral, which was built to house the Virgin’s Belt, the most important relic in the city. Primary sources allow reconstruction of the ceremony during which the precious relic of the Virgin’s Belt was displayed to the public. The monumental narratives of the origins of the Holy Belt and its journey to Prato celebrated Prato’s favored status as custodian of the relic. Detailed surviving payments, here published in full for the first time, reveal a narrative of the chapel’s construction and decoration and bring to light how the artist, Agnolo Gaddi, collaborated with Florentine and Pratese artisans in the enterprise. Agnolo’s  professional and personal connections with the Pratese Opera, and the social identities of its members, expose a rich network of relationships in which the commission unfolded.

Chapter 6 surveys new waves of internal and external migration in the post-Mao era, arguing that they are linked phenomena. The chapter demonstrates that the larger phenomenon, the “floating population” of rural migrants in the cities of eastern, coastal China, is related to the phenomenon of “new migrants” targeting destinations beyond the borders of China. The chapter describes two important examples. The first is the simultaneous migration from some specific communities in the Wenzhou area of southern Zhejiang to Beijing and of migration from other specific communities in Wenzhou to such places as Prato, Italy. The second example consists of rural communities near the city of Wenzhou that both receive “internal” migrants from western China and send “external” migrants to such places as New York City. The chapter demonstrates the continued importance of kinship and native-place networks for the laborers and small entrepreneurs who made up the “floating population” and the “new migrants.” The chapter explores the stances and roles of various levels of government within China toward migrants. It concludes with a survey of family practices, including the reemergence of split families and the newer trends of family migration.

Although Florence was where Piero lived and where his fate would be decided, he was nevertheless sustained by an extensive web of patronal, as well as banking, relationships that stretched outside Florence into its dominion and beyond, providing Piero with support from clients and supporters that helped to sustain him in his exile with a high price on his head. Through his great-grandmother Contessina, Piero was already in close contact with his Bardi relations in the Mugello and with old feudal families in Pistoia and Siena, and his father took care to nurture his role as patron and boss by introducing him early on to these client networks and teaching him through his own example. Like Lorenzo, Piero was called ‘master of the workshop’ to describe his role as boss – even if neither enjoyed the success of Giovanni di Bicci and Cosimo as bankers. Piero was appointed head of the Medici Bank in Pisa in 1489 (aged seventeen) under the aegis of his manager Giovanni Cambi, and he enjoyed a close relationship with his cousin Nofri Tornabuoni, who became manager of the Medici Bank in Rome, both cities of strategic and cultural importance that must have contributed to his political experience if not to his banking skills.