News, Archives and Photos for the Florence Flood of 1966
Florence-Flood.com is a website, blog and information resource dedicated to the tragic Florence flood of November, 1966. If you have a resource about the flood you would like to see listed here, please let us know. You can also ask questions and/or leave comments on all of the articles using the comment form at the bottom of each post, or sign up to receive email alerts when we update the site by using the form below.
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April 15, 2009
A Family's Loss Leads to Life as a 'Mud Angel'
Here is an article weaving the recent tragic earthquakes in L'Aquila with the flood of 1966:
Many will remember the Florence flood of 1966. Once the waters receded and the mud remained, thousands went to Florence to help. I was sent by my parents to volunteer. I was basically a kid who helped carry things and acted as a gofer. I later learned that I was technically a "mud angel." I had been a witness and, in my small way, I helped. But, perhaps of greater importance was that I became totally convinced that I would try in my career to help keep great works of art safe.
I can't find much news at all about the flood in English. I guess 42 is not a big deal. Of course it is pouring here in Florence today. Here is a slide show I just found on YouTube:
THERE are, writes Robert Clark, two concepts of the legendary city on the banks of the Arno in northern Italy. One, called Firenze, is populated by the proud, hard-working people who live there. The other, known to many as Florence, is home to the world’s greatest concentration of sublime works of art. Both are susceptible to terrible flooding—and November is the cruellest month. The river Arno’s first great flood happened on November 4th 1333; there were 3,000 deaths and the reason given was the sinfulness of man. On November 4th 1966 another great flood inundated the city; 33 people died and the blame fell principally on Enel, Italy’s largest power company.
Tomorrow is the 42nd anniversary of the flood. We have had some rain here in Florence recently (finally!) to remind us, but the event seems to passing this year without much fanfare. I am sure there will be some remembrances held in town - maybe at the Palazzo Vecchio, etc. I will try to find some local news as I can't scrape anything up on the web at the moment.
Random House was kind enough to put us in touch with Robert Clark, author of the new book "Dark Water". He answered a few of our questions below by email:
Florence Flood: How long were you in Florence researching the book and how did the grant process come about?
Robert Clark: I was in Florence, living in the Piazza del Carmine for most of two years. As I said (in the book), I'd gotten the fellowship before I came, and the book came, sideways as it were, as a result.
There is a new book to be released on October 7th about the 1966 flood of Florence and the aftermath of that fateful event. We were lucky enough to receive an advance copy and I am happy to say that if you are interested in the flood enough to have visited this website then you have to have a copy of this book: Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces. It is remarkable in its detail and scholarship and brings the events and the people involved to life like nothing else I have read. We will posting a more in depth review soon, as well as an excerpt from the book, and even an interview with the author. For now, you can pre-order a copy from Amazon.com.
Google Scholar is a specialized search engine from Google that searches scholarly texts, professional journals, research papers, etc. Here is a search for the 1966 Florence Flood. This is a pretty interesting resource but unfortunately it seems that most of this material must be paid for to actually view in its entirety, on the sites listed by Google Scholar all you get are abstracts (mostly). Still - it is a good starting place to at least find relevant materials, titles, etc.
This is an interesting clip from YouTube that is a mix of some contemporary docudrama looking stuff mixed in with some vintage film of the 1966 flood and work of the mud angels. I am not sure where it was taken from. If you can shed some light on the origins of this please let me know in the comments.
Here is a post on a message board that has several good black and white photos of the flood - I don't know about the copyright of these images, some of which seem familiar. There are a couple by the train station and the SITA station I have not seen before though.
Here is some footage (1:42) of the Piazza Signoria on the night of the 40th anniversary of the flood. You can see the slideshow in the loggia and the purple lighting, etc. It was a very moving exhibit. We were there that night but only have still images.
The "The Years of the Cupola" is a digital archive of all the works belonging to the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore relating to Brunelleschi's Dome. Of course, that means work damaged by the flood of 1966:
"The project to make images of the archival material contained in The Years of the Cupola available in Internet is a response to the challenge posed by the state of conservation of the original manuscripts, so damaged after the 1966 flood that traditional photography alone would be of limited usefulness for the reading of the faded script. The project presents both photography carried out before the flood, when available, and new images processed through techniques of "virtual restoration," in such a manner as to distinguish visual tools for reading from evidence of the current appearance of the leaves. Effort has been made to render the relationship between the various types of photography presented by the project as intuitive as possible.
This is an amazing project (and website) and should be a great source for scholars.
Here is a really interesting resource - a video on the restoration of books immediately after the flood:
Originally produced by the Royal College of Art, London, 1968.
Book conservators begin to restore the many books damaged by the devastating flood in Florence, Italy in 1966. Peter Waters covers a book in leather. Christopher Clarkson makes a velum binding.
This video is made available from the University of Utah. Hat tip to PhiloBiblos
November 4th, 2006 40th Anniversary of the Florence Flood
On Saturday Florence was buzzing with various exhibits, memorials and events surrounding the remembrance of the flood. Many shops had their own photos up in their windows, which was very interesting since many of the pictures are originals and not the shots you see over and over again in books and old postcards. The lavanderia on Via dei Neri had several interesting photographs, including one of the street decorated for Christmas that year - Christmas 1966 in Florence must have been a pretty somber event.
There was a mass at Santa Maria del Fiore, and a special exhibit by David Lees, a photographer for Life magazine at the time of the flood, opened in the Palazzo Vecchio. This exhibit is very moving and very well presented - I will be going back again before it closes.
At night, the banks of the Arno were lit, as were the bridges. The Ponte Vecchio and Ponte alle Grazie were bathed in a eerie purple light, and there were fog machines on the banks of the river producing a mysterious effect.
The Palazzo Vechhio and most of the statues in the Piazza Signoria and the Loggia dei Lanzi also had the purple light effect, while in the loggia itself there were video and slide presentations with scenes of the flood and the clean up efforts, set to some moody, techno-type music.
This is really just a cursory review of some of the things that happened on Saturday - there was also a large exhibit in Piazza Santa Croce of all the civil services, and there were speeches on the steps of the Palazzo Vechhio, as well as a full day itinerary that took place inside during the day for Mud Angels, etc. We'll keep posting news and updates as we here about things.
Today is the day, 40 years ago, when the city of Florence awoke to a terrible deluge:
Mud Angels swarmed to city in '66 to save priceless heritage
(ANSA) - Florence, November 1 - At 5am on November 3, 1966 the skies over Tuscany opened and poured non-stop for 18 hours, causing an unprecedented artistic, economic and human disaster. The River Arno burst its banks, flooded the city and claimed 29 lives.
Mud and water swamped the museums, churches and libraries of the birthplace of the Renaissance, ruining many great works.
The damage caused was incalculable. But it was a fraction of the devastation the city would have suffered without the efforts of thousands of young volunteers who came from all over Italy and from abroad to save the art treasures and help Florence off its knees.
This week Italy is recalling the disaster and the efforts of those volunteers, nicknamed the 'mud angels', who did so much to limit its impact.
Over 2,000 of them are returning here to take part in some of the 100 events marking the 40th anniversary of the flood. These include a mass in Florence's Duomo in honour of the victims, which US Senator Ted Kennedy and Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli will attend on November 4. There are a number of concerts and exhibitions, including a show at Palazzo Vecchio of shots of the wreckage and the rescue work by Life magazine photographer David Lees.
All week Italian television has been broadcasting reports and documentaries remembering the events of 40 years ago.
One of the most fascinating clips features British actor Richard Burton making a public appeal for help. He made the appeal in perfect Italian, even though he could not speak the language, brilliantly repeating lines he had been drilled. "Florence needs us all because she belongs to the world," said Burton, who was in Italy with Elizabeth Taylor, his wife at the time. "Everything we can do, we will do, so that this city, which we all need so much, comes back to us".
Burton was also the narrator of a documentary on the disaster by Florentine film and theatre director Franco Zeffirelli, which will be screened here on November 5.
Zeffirelli said that November 4 1996 was a "very happy date" for him.
"It seems a crazy thing to say but on that day I was witness to an incredible Florence," Zeffirelli added.
"In a situation of extreme hardship, the Florentines threw themselves into the mud to put the city back on its feet.
"It shows how a city can pick itself up from a horrendous situation".
Among the masterpieces to be saved by the mud angels was the wooden Crucifixion by Florentine painter Cimabue (1240-1302), considered the last great artist of the Byzantine tradition. Experts managed to restore the priceless work, even though the fury of the flood water which swept into the Basilica di Santa Croce had wiped off most the paint. Another illustrious local, Wanda Ferragamo - the wife of celebrated footwear designer Salvatore Ferragamo and the president of the company he set up - also remembers the flood well.
"The power of the water was so strong that it swept away everything in its path and our company s shoes were found kilometres away days later," she said. "Ours was not an isolated case. The city's shopkeepers wept that day, when the Arno seemed to have taken away the future. Many people cried, but not in front of the TV cameras. "Rather than wasting time complaining, all the Florentines rolled up their sleeves, showing strength of spirit, solidarity, civic responsibility and, above all, love for the city".
Flood protection of the historic centre of Florence, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, has since been beefed up by a series of dams, civil-engineering projects and the construction of higher embankments in the city.
But experts warn that more still needs to be done to make the city and the surrounding area totally flood-proof.
The Florentine is Florence's English language "newspaper". It is published every two weeks and can be (at times) a great resource for the English speaking community. They have a special issue out devoted to the flood which is quite well done - stories, photos, letters written at the time, etc. Unfortunately all they have on-line is a few sample pages - in PDF format (I would really love to see them develop their website more fully).
. It is remarkable in its detail and scholarship and brings the events and the people involved to life like nothing else I have read. We will posting a more in depth review soon, as well as an excerpt from the book, and even an interview with the author. For now, you can pre-order a copy from Amazon.com.
