The Textile Museum is the largest cultural center in Italy dedicated to the valorization of ancient and contemporary textile art and production . The Museum represents the historical memory and cultural interface of the Prato district, which since the Middle Ages has been identified with the production of fabrics and which today has over 7000 companies active in this sector.

The Museum was founded in 1975 within the “Tullio Buzzi” Industrial Technical Textile Institute, thanks to an initial donation of around 600 ancient textile fragments, which is added to the testimonies collected over the years by the school professors for consultation and study by students. Over the years, the collections have seen a notable increase thanks to the contribution of the Association of Former Students of the Buzzi Institute and other important city institutions, such as the Municipality of Prato, Cariprato, and the Unione Industriale Pratese.

In 1997 the Museum was temporarily located in the Town Hall and in this period the collection of contemporary fabrics was born, which grows with seasonal fashion trends thanks to the relationship with the PratoTrade association, a selection of textile companies producing clothing fabrics. In 2003 the definitive headquarters was inaugurated in the restored rooms of the former Campolmi factory, a precious testimony of industrial archeology located within the fourteenth-century walls of the city.

Since 2012 the Museum has obtained the recognition of the qualification of "museum of regional importance" pursuant to articles. 20 and 21 of regional law no. 21 of 25 February 2010.