The huge factory was built in 1889 by Austrian entrepreneurs, with an area of ​​23,000 square meters and a staff consisting of 900 workers. It was the first full-cycle factory, in fact, all the stages of fabric processing were done here, except spinning, which was carried out in another factory in Terni. During the war it was sold and became "Il Fabbricone" Lanificio Italiano company, governed by a Board of Directors.
In 1939 the factory had already 1500 workers and in the second half of the thirties the spinning was also realized. The history of the factory has marked the one of the city, in particular it was a strong tool of female emancipation, in fact during the war the factory was straightened by the work of women workers who together with the skill in weaving also acquired the awareness of their rights. In 1960, the management of the factory passed to IRI and ten years later to ENI, until the mid-seventies, when the factory became the property of a well-known family of Prato entrepreneurs, the Balli. In 1974, during the inauguration of Orestea for the direction of Luca Ronconi, was used for the first time as a theatre space a former warehouse belonging to the "Fabbricone" industrial structure. Today Fabbricone continues to be a vital space for the productions of the Metastasio Theatre.