"The River Came Up to Here"

On November 6, 1966, the River Arno flooded Florence, and enormous damage was done to the city: 101 people died, and vast numbers of priceless works of art were badly or irreparably damaged, the patrimony not only of the city and of Italy but also of the whole world.* It was the worst flood in Florence since 1557, and while nobody is alive to recall the extent of the damage in 1557, one sees reminders today of the damage done in 1966.

There are many little monuments in locations seemingly well away from the river, little plaques well above floor level, saying "the river came up to here." It still impresses.

In the images below, the first ("the water of the Arno reached this height") is in the cloister at the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, and the second places the first one in context, eight or nine feet above the ground. The Basilica is about 500 yards from the north bank of the Arno. The third one is in a restaurant** near us, about four feet off the floor, about 300 yards from the south bank of the Arno, where the ground slopes up a bit more than on the north bank.

* I was once told that Italy contained a third of the UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites and that Florence held a third of all those in Italy. I have not been able to verify this, as there are 845 World Heritage cultural sites and 49 of them are in Italy, less than 6 percent of the total. Whoever told me that was probably confusing it with some other measure of cultural supremacy. Still, Italy has more UNESCO-listed cultural sites than any other country (Spain is second with 41).

** Eating in the restaurant again tonight, I noticed a photo on the wall from the flood, dated 1966. It's quite striking, so I took a snap.