The Florence Flood

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:

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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.

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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.

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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

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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:

"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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Getty Images has some archival footage of Florence right after the flood (click the above image to play the video). You can watch the clips on their site - or if you are a film maker you can buy what you need for your project. The shot above is a quick scan of Piazza Santa Croce. You can see the church of Santa Croce in the background, and when the camera starts to pan, on the right is Palazzo Antellesi. The statue of Dante, now in front of the church, was still in the middle of the piazza in 1966.

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