Learn Italian: Visto che siamo in centro, parliamo con il sindaco. - Seeing that we are downtown, we are speaking with the mayor.

Visto che translates to "seeing that" or "since". It is perfect for starting a sentence when you want to state the cause before the effect. While perché means "because", it sounds unnatural at the very beginning of an Italian sentence. Visto che and dato che are your best options for opening a sentence this way.

Is there any difference between using visto che and dato che here?

No, they are completely interchangeable. You could easily say Dato che siamo in centro... to mean "Given that we are downtown...". Both are very common and natural in everyday spoken Italian.

Why do we use the preposition in for in centro?

In Italian, certain locations automatically take the preposition in without a definite article, and centro (city center/downtown) is one of them. You always say in centro, just like you say in banca (at the bank) or in farmacia (at the pharmacy).

The translation says "we are speaking", but could parliamo also mean "let's speak"?

Yes! The regular present tense for noi (we) is identical to the imperative (command or suggestion) form for "we". Without more context, this sentence could easily be a suggestion: "Seeing that we are downtown, let's speak with the mayor."