The 1966 flood's damages to the art heritage of Florence

Among the funds of the Photographic Department which document the history of Florence and its art heritage, the one about the 1966 flood is particularly important. It consists of more than 1,000 photos taken during an emergency situation that also affected the Photographic Department itself.

After days of heavy rain, on the night of 4 November at 2.30 am, the Arno river overflowed in the suburban area of 'Nave a Rovezzano', where the river enters the city, and then spread with great violence over the countryside and the Gavinana quarter, which remained under more than 5 metres of water. At 7 am, more than a metre of water submerged the central quarter of Santo Spirito. Around 6.30 am, the Arno River's embankments were overtaken by the tide of water and mud in front of the National Library, which flooded all the Santa Croce quarter and then produced currents that reached as far as the Archaeological Museum in Piazza Santissima Annunziata. The flood overwhelming the streets along the Arno River was devastating and swept over the parapets of Ponte Vecchio, destroying many shops and leaving heaps of debris, branches and trunks. Around the Cathedral, the water reached 3 metres, causing the Baptistery's Door of Paradise to burst open violently thus provoking the detachment of 5 panels.

The rain continued to fall. Many families in the old town remained stuck in their houses, on the upper floors, watching the river carry cars and all kinds of material through the streets. In the evening, the water began to recede and in the morning of the following day, the river returned to its bed, leaving some areas under water and the whole city muddy and soaked in naphtha. The official number of victims was 35 between Florence and neighbouring areas.

The Superintendent of the Galleries (the Ministry's representative in charge of the art heritage of Florence at the time) was Ugo Procacci, who that morning went very early to the Uffizi together with some curators and museum attendants to save as many works as possible. On the ground floor, in the premises of the so-called 'Vecchia Posta', there were the restoration laboratories and the Photographic Department; in San Pier Scheraggio, also on the ground floor, there was an important depository of works; and the Vasari Corridor gathered the collection of self-portraits: during the chaotic hours when the Arno was taking over the city, the staff of the Uffizi worked to bring as many works as possible to the upper floors and remove the paintings from the Vasari Corridor which seemed on the edge of collapse together with Ponte Vecchio.
The damage to art heritage as well as to the city as a whole was enormous, caused first by the fury of the water and heavy materials that broke through doors, fences and shop windows, then by the mud and fuel oil from the heating systems scattered everywhere.
The tragic story of Cimabue's crucifix in Santa Croce Church became a symbol of the devastation of the flood-struck art heritage of Florence. After being exhibited in the Uffizi after the World War II, it had been brought back to the Church on the occasion of the rearrangement of the Museum of the Santa Croce Church, inaugurated in 1959. Swept away by water that reached a height of 6 metres, it did not come down but became completely soaked in water, naphtha and mud, and 60% of its pictorial surface was in fact lost.
Thousands of volunteers came from all over the world to help Florence come out from the mud and start the recovery operations for the endangered heritage. The general coordinator was Procacci, who was already in charge after the Second World War. The rebirth of Florence came through international reaction and solidarity, which, thanks to the effort of people and means employed, made possible that almost all the works remained in the city.

The flood also affected the rooms of the Uffizi Photographic Department, damaging its equipment and a large number of photographs and negatives, including those from the ‘War Damage’ fund: the shelves of the archive were submerged up to a height of 1.5 metres. If it was possible to recover a good part of the more than 20,000 negatives that had ended up under water, it was due to the prompt intervention of the Photographic Department staff, then directed by Umberto Baldini, who was also in charge of the restoration laboratory.
During that dramatic moment, more than 1,000 photos were nonetheless taken to document the state of the damaged works in the museums and the surrounding area. They are negatives on 6x6cm film, a format that allowed a good handling of the equipment and a faster execution speed.
A large number of photos is also dedicated to the first interventions on site, the transport of the works to safer and more adequate places. The story continues in the following years with the restoration and relocation of the works to their original locations.
Some of the shelters for the damaged works were the Boboli Lemon House, an ideal place to preserve the paintings on wood at a constant temperature and humidity so as to avoid a too rapid drying process. Then some rooms in Pitti Palace and the Villa della Petraia were used to stock the furniture; the canvases were moved to the hall of the 'Galleria dell'Accademia'; the books to the Forte Belvedere; the statues and art objects to Palazzo Davanzati.
After months of monitoring, many works underwent restoration at the workshop of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, arranged for the occasion in the current seat of Fortezza da Basso in Florence.

Finally, the collection is complemented with a series of photos donated to the Photographic Department by photographer David Lees, who took them for ‘Life’ magazine.