The Flood: A Library Guide

The Flood of 1966: Florence, Italy

(Alluvione di Firenze del 4 Novembre 1966)

Part 1: The Basics

Introduction

This library guide is meant to serve as an introduction to the Florence flood of November 4, 1966 (Italian: Alluvione di Firenze del 4 Novembre 1966), when the Arno River breached its banks and allowed floodwaters to rush through the city. The disaster killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed countless millions of priceless art masterpieces and rare books.

Following the flood, volunteers from all over the world came to Florence’s aid to help in the recovery of paintings, books, and other works of art that had been damaged by the water and sludge, fuel oil, and other debris and sediment. These volunteers, called “the mud angels” (or gli angeli del fango), helped to reduce the loss of the priceless cultural heritage of Florence. With their combined effort, many of the nearly lost works have been restored, although much work remains, even today.

Because of the groundbreaking work of these volunteers and their recovery efforts, conservation underwent a change and new methods were devised and new laboratories for restoration were created. Conservators began to adopt these new methods as standards and treatments for conservation and repair. Additionally, some of the “mud angels” would even go on to use the skills they’d learned during the cleanup to become art and book conservators themselves.

TOC

This library guide is divided into four content sections and two gallerie fotografiche. Links to go forward and backward through the guide are located on each page. The sections are also listed below:

Audience

Anyone interested in art, history, libraries, archives, conservation, and so much more may be interested in the information found in this guide.

Contact information

Donnie Boman
Email: dboman@gmail.com
Qualifications: B.A., MLIS (See full CV on LinkedIn.)

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