The trasmitting site view from the street	Another site view
Prato Smeraldo in the '44	Prato Smeraldo area in the 1944
The transmitter used in 1931	Prato Smeraldo aerial in 1931

Prato Smeraldo is located to the south of Rome city, near the "raccordo anulare" highway and close to the military site of Cecchignola.
This centre was created in 1931 during fascism with a 12 KW shortwave transmitter and two antenna systems. In 1940 the system was updated with two new transmitters of 40 KW and 50 KW and 13 beam antennas.
The second world war destroyed all the transmitters, except for an old 50 KW set. In 1948, after the passing of a special law of the Italian government (DL 7.5.48 n. 1132), the whole of the antenna farm was rebuilt. At that time they also set up 27 beam antennas and 11 wide radius antennas.

The broadcasting center of Rome Prato Smeraldo has received orders to shut down as of 30 September 2007. The decision to shut down the shortwave broadcasts is a consequence of the new contract made between the Italian government and public broadcaster Rai and its international department Rai International.

At the moment of the closing Prato Smeraldo Centre broadcasts the RAI International signal with six 100 KW transmitters and more than 30 antennas.