Audio & Video


New Mud Angels Video

Published on December 11, 2020 8:25 PM | Comments

The benefits of studying abroad are seen in this short documentary. The inaugural class of the California State University program in Florence, Italy encountered enormous challenges. Yet, it was character building and created a strong group bond. More than 50 years later, the CSU "Mud Angels" are still close friends.


This short film utilizes images from Florence-flood.com that were taken by Joe Blaustein, that we helped to surface and bring to the world, and other sources, including some shots I have never seen before. It is really worth a watch, and a very nice job by Diane Guerrazzi, Professor at San Jose State University School of Journalism & Mass Communications.

Joe's book is below - you can get a copy from Amazon:



Great film from the Italian Interior Ministry - this one is new to me also. Looks like more and more video is being found as the years go by:


Francesco Corsi, Firenze Alluvione, 4 Novembre 1966

Published on November 4, 2016 11:17 PM | Comments

Here is a video I had not seen before, very good color footage:


I can only find this mentioned in the Italian news sites (in Italian) but basically it sounds like it is a super 8 color film that has never been shown to the public before. It is being presented in the Sala d'arme at the Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza Signoria, every day, for free, from from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. until November 13.

Alluvione firenze-2.jpg

I can't find anything official about it on the Palazzo Vecchio website - many of these Florence museum websites are unfortunately woefully maintained.


Zeffirelli's Florence: Days of Destruction

Published on September 13, 2013 2:30 PM | Comments

This is Florentine native Franco Zeffirelli's short documentary about the flood "Florence: Days of Destruction" which he made to raise awareness of the flood's impact. Released a month after the disaster, it reputedly raised more than $20 million for reconstruction efforts. The narrator is Richard Burton, speaking in Italian allegedly from a phonetic script.


42nd Anniversary of the Flood of 1966

Published on November 4, 2008 10:00 AM | Comments

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:


Some more Florence Flood video

Published on September 21, 2007 3:19 PM | Comments

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.


40th Anniversary of the Florence flood video

Published on February 26, 2007 9:28 AM | Comments

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 Restoration of Books after the flood

Published on February 10, 2007 12:48 PM | Comments

Here is a really interesting resource - a video on the restoration of books immediately after the flood:

data.jpgOriginally 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


Florence Flood of 1966 MP3

Published on October 5, 2006 3:44 PM | Comments

This is pretty interesting - both the idea (MP3 audio tours to play on your iPod - I thought that was my original idea!) and the content - an audio tour that takes you through Florence and the flood of 1966. We haven't heard this yet - but if anyone does buy this or has heard it in the past, we would like to know what you think (you can tell us in the comments). This (I suppose) is a sample of the tour:

santacroce.jpg"Santa Croce was the first populated area to be overflowed by the flood. This area remained under the water longer compared to the others because it's lower with respect to the river. The Arno river completely filled the Cloister, it penetrated into the crypt, it disrupted the tombs of the Church. The works of removing the mud and the rubble took about two months. But the damages didn't finish here: the Franciscan fathers and those in charge of the Belle Arti saw the most devastating reality: the Crucifix by Cimabue, located in the Museum inside the big Franciscan refectory, was destroyed. Among great difficulties the heavy painted cross, drenched with water, was brought down and laid in a horizontal position. It took six hours to accomplish this difficult task, while the flakes of colour detached and fell in the mud. The mud was sieved and some fragments were recovered."

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