The Florence Flood

Seems like there is a new book out (November 2009) that we somehow missed - "Conservation Legacies of the Florence Flood of 1966":

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A new review out of Dark Water, in the Economist:

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.

More here.

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.

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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.

Continue reading "Interview with "Dark Water" author Robert Clark" »

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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.

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"The Great Flood of Florence" came out during the 40th anniversary last year and is now available for purchase from Amazon.com:

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The Sixteen Pleasures is a work of fiction but the young woman at the heart of the story is a "mud angel" and the book centers around her work of restoring books (along with a mystery and a love story) that were flood damaged. I know a couple of people who have read this book and say it is very good. Again, this is a work of fiction, but many of the details of the flood and the restoration of books are historically accurate and give a sense of what it was like to be in Florence in 1966.

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