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Art of Loving Italy

Art of Loving Italy

Art & Beauty are all around us.

1966 Flood devastated Florence. City saved by Mud Angels

November 13, 2016 by Melissa Muldoon 5 Comments

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the flood that devastated Florence in 1966. On November 3rd, after weeks of torrential rains, the Arno’s banks gave way and river water gushed into the city. Florence was caught, virtually unaware that night and was ill-equipped to deal with the aftermath of the flood that damaged or destroyed many masterpieces and rare books.

In the novel “Dreaming Sophia” I talk about the Mud Angels. Sophia’s mother was, in fact, a Mud Angel in Florence at the time of the flood. She embodied Mario Primicerio’s (Mayor of Florence—1995-1999) sentiments about the Mud Angels:

Photo Credit: Dreamstime

“What we were doing was dictated by the desire to give back the traces of the history of the past to future generations, so that it could be used for the spiritual growth of people who perhaps had yet to be born…it was the international community that worked to try to save Florence, this unique patrimony which belonged to the whole world.”

With very few emergency measures in place or workforce to clean up the resulting mess, when the flood struck Florence in 1966, Florence depended greatly on volunteers dubbed the Mud Angels—gli Angeli di fango who descended upon the city shortly after learning about the flood. These unexpected saviors were the young people who came from all over the world and all over Italy to selflessly help the Florentines shovel approximately 600,000 tons of mud, rubble, and sewage that remained in the flood’s aftermath.

Photo Credit: The country of origin of this photograph is Italy.
It is in the public domain there because its copyright term ha

The young volunteers faced not only knee-deep slime and mud, but also the sticky Nafta fuel oil that gushed from broken heating lines coating stone walls, statues, and marble surfaces. The water damage too was quite significant. Shop windows were shattered, merchandise ruined and cars were trashed, dragged through the streets by powerful currents, and left piled one on top of the other.

mud-angels-florence-flood-1966-save-art
Photo Credit: Firenze Today Archivio Foto Locchi
Photo Credit: The country of origin of this photograph is Italy.
It is in the public domain there because its copyright term ha

The Mud Angels worked tirelessly, inspired by hope and a willingness to make a difference. Most were never paid for their efforts and many slept in boxcars in the train yard of Santa Maria Novella. During the day they swept debris from the streets or worked passing hand over hand soggy books and manuscripts from the Biblioteca Nazionale’s basement. Others were given the assignment of smearing walls with caustic solvents to pull the oils from the surface of ancient buildings. Still, others helped in the city’s hospital or assisted local merchants to clean out their shops.

Photo Credit: The country of origin of this photograph is Italy.
It is in the public domain there because its copyright term has expired.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the flood, I attended a tribute to Florence and the Mud Angels in San Francisco at the Istituto Italiano Cultura. People came together to watch a short film and listen to the stories told by students who attended Gonzaga (Spokane, Washington) University’s Florence campus at that time.

Photo Credit: The country of origin of this photograph is Italy.
It is in the public domain there because its copyright term has expired.

We also heard from a Florentine woman, who shared personal memories of the event and how her family and neighbors coped with losing electricity as the waters filled the stairwells of her apartment building in the Oltrarno. Many recalled the eery silence and pitch blackness of the night when the electric generators failed. She remembered the shouts and cries that echoed through the darkness as stranded neighbors called to one another from adjacent buildings.

mud-angels-florence-flood-1966-save-art
Photo Credit: Firenze Today Archivio Foto Locchi

Another person recalled that although the Ponte Vecchio Bridge survived it looked as if it had been hit by a bomb. Where the jewelry stores had been, large gaping holes remained and people searched through the mud trying to find jewels in the street.

Photo Credit: The country of origin of this photograph is Italy.
It is in the public domain there because its copyright term has expired.

But the most vivid memory for most was the rancid musty smell of the city that remained for days, even weeks after the floodwaters receded.

The flood of ’66 was quite a dramatic event and while human casualties were few the real cost was the devastation to Florence’s art treasures. If any good came out of the disaster, it would be the advancements made in book conservation and art restoration.

Photo Credit: The country of origin of this photograph is Italy.
It is in the public domain there because its copyright term has expired.

It was very interesting to listen to the stories of the Mud Angels, but the images of those days also are quite powerful, astonishing, and sobering. As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words.

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Filed Under: Art News, Current Events, Modern, 18th, 19th, Contemporary Tagged With: 50th anniversary of Florence Flood, Angeli di Fango, Dreaming Sophia, Firenze, Florence, Istituto Italiano Culturale San Francisco, Melissa Muldoon, Mud Angels

Reader Interactions

Commenti - Comments

  1. Rob Billingsley says

    March 31, 2021 at 7:59 am

    Greetings, I am 2/3 through a draft of a novel that includes some chapters on Florence shortly after the flood. I’m looking for Mud Angels to interview. While I was briefly in Italy in 1966 on a ‘gap semester’ traveling around Europe, I never made it to Florence. I heard about backpackers and others of my age going to Florence to help in clean-up in a Marbella hostel, and decided to do the same. Unfortunately, I ran out of funds in Genoa. My book is not the story of my life, but bits of my life in a fictional story. I would like to interview surviving Mud Angels about silly details of the time for more detailed background. Any ideas how I can develop those contacts? Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

    Reply
    • Melissa Muldoon says

      March 31, 2021 at 1:15 pm

      Hi Rob, Thanks for your message and interest in the Mud Angels. I sent you an email as well as replying to your message on the blog site.

      There is a wealth of information on the internet that will help you.

      I think one of the best ways to visualize the flood is by watching the Italian film “La meglio giovenú” or “The Best of Youth.” It is an extremely long film that follows the saga of an italian family… but there is a part of the film that takes place during the 1966 flood in Florence. It illustrates brilliantly what happened and how the students reacted and helped save books and art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Youth

      There are also lots of books, blog articles and memoirs have also been written on the subject.

      I too have written a novel called “Dreaming Sophia” that takes place in Florence and dedicate an entire chapter to the Mud Angels – Chapter 7 “Saving Lorenzo’s Legacy. You can find the novel following this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LMVR10W/

      Doing a quick internet search I came up with this:

      http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A368787/datastream/OBJ/view/FSU-Firenze_1966-67_Memories.pdf

      On Amazon there are books more books as well

      Amazon.com/Dark-Water-Disaster-Redemption-Florence/dp/0767926498

      Robert Hellenga’s book (my college professor) “The Sixteen Pleasures” is about a book restorer and her adventures in Florence during the flood.

      Happy researching and writing!

      Stammi bene! Ci sentiamo! Melissa

      Reply
  2. wordforword17 says

    September 30, 2021 at 11:36 am

    When bad things happen to good people in my world , I always think of the tenacity of Italy . Your photo essay on the flood of 1966 is an excellent reminder of it . Thanks for sharing ! 💪

    Reply
  3. wordforword17 says

    September 30, 2021 at 11:37 am

    Thanks Melissa . Loved it .

    Reply

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