Opera magazine
2025-11-04
November 4, 1966: 59 Years Since the Florence Flood
Eve Borsook's account of the tragic event, the damage to cultural heritage, and how it changed the concept of restoration.
59 years have passed since the morning of November 4, 1966, when the Arno river submerged the city and the surrounding municipalities under water and mud. What do you remember about that morning?
"At that time, I was teaching at several American universities in Florence, and on November 3rd, the day before the flood, I was on my way to Ognissanti to meet my Stanford University students when I ran into the army because the first signs of trouble had already begun that day. In the night between November 3rd and 4th, I received a phone call from Ugo Procacci, who was the Superintendent of Monuments and Fine Arts at the time, asking for my help to transport tens of thousands of negatives from the Uffizi Photographic Archive (Gabinetto fotografico degli Uffizi), one of the areas most damaged by the flood, to Villa I Tatti. It would take over ten days to wash and dry them. That morning, we also stopped at the Opera di Santa Croce, where the water level had already reached 6 meters, to retrieve the paintings contained in the Museum."
Which bodies and associations were most involved in the recovery of the artistic heritage?
"There were several associations that supported and funded the damages caused by the flood, especially from the United States, Germany, and England. The American committee CRIA (The Committee to Rescue Italian Art) financed a large part of the operations for the recovery, study, and restoration of the artistic heritage, and my collaboration as a translator for the scientists involved in the work was born precisely with this association and with the German committee led by Alexander Kreuter. But there were also many National Committees that raised public and private funds destined not only for the recovery of the damaged artworks but for the creation of a scientific restoration laboratory. Here, in an international atmosphere that contradicted Florentine provincialism, scholars and restorers who arrived in Florence from all over the world contributed to the research and analysis of new techniques and materials. This episode made possible the experimentation of practices—now obsolete or highly criticized, such as the use of synthetic resins for surface consolidation—but also the discovery by Professor Ferroni of the University of Florence of new substances like barium hydroxide for the reconstruction of contaminated plaster, which is still used today. Furthermore, I would like to recall my experience in the team of Leonetto Tintori, an expert restorer from Prato who practiced his profession both in Italy and abroad and is considered among the founding fathers of modern restoration. Tintori was among the first restorers to carry out diagnostic research and surveys for the knowledge of the constitutive matter of artworks, requesting and receiving support from historians, scientists, and architects for this. His great competence, accompanied by an extraordinary artistic flair, served as a growth factor for the entire scientific restoration movement which, after the flood, would establish itself within the realm of conservation science."
How did the concept of art restoration change after the flood?
"It can be said that the flood helped change the perception of the subject of restoration, which, until that time, was not seen as a science. There was no specific degree or course of study in this sector, and restorers were viewed as laborers, even though, for centuries, they had been responsible for the repairs, deterioration, and protection of artworks that were dimming inside churches, palaces, and museums. Before the flood, Italian art historians were mainly interested in the history of criticism and the aesthetic side of an artwork, completely neglecting the history of technique. The importance of the flood in this sense was to make it clear that the technique and materiality of the artwork cannot be separated from its historical and aesthetic aspect."
About the Interviewee: Eve Borsook
Eve Borsook is an art historian, born in Toronto, raised in California, specializing in mural decoration (mosaics and mural paintings). She obtained her Ph.D. from the Courtauld Institute (University of London) and has taught as a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and at many other institutions in the United States, Florence, and Australia. She has lived in Florence since 1952. Her publications include: The Mural Painters of Tuscany (1960, 1980), The Companion Guide to Florence (9 editions between 1966 and 1998), and Francesco Sassetti and Ghirlandaio at Santa Trinita, Florence: History and Legend in a Renaissance Chapel (1981).
