FLORENCE FLOODS 1966

FLORENCE FLOODS 1966

It was a Friday, November 4, 1966, when Florence woke up under the storm and with the Arno about to exceed their banks. Time a few hours, and the entire city, as the province’s municipalities along the Danube and its tributaries you know, will be submerged by water and mud. Already in the days before there had been heavy rain, and the level of the Arno had arrived to dangerous levels, but it was not tripped the alarm because the autumn floods were part of the tradition and had never caused harm. No one could have anticipated what would happen soon. In the night between 3 and 4 November, the municipalities of Casentino and Valdarno begin to undergo the first overflowing, are broken railway lines and the Autostrada del Sole. In Florence, the torrent Mugnone overflows near the Cascine Park, causing the death of seventy-bred horses among those kept in the complex. The power of the unexpected rains captures all unprepared, and when authorities begin to try to remedy it is too late. Just before dawn the Arno overflows near the center, overwhelming the National Library and the Santa Croce district, shortly after the turn of the Piazza Duomo and Piazza della Signoria, as he begins to try to salvage the works Art and valuable assets, such as jewelery of goldsmith shops on the Ponte Vecchio. Later in the day, the water reaches six meters in height, and only towards the evening Arno begins to flow, leaving behind a scene of devastation and ruin.