Plaques on the Via San Remigio in Florence mark the level of both floods
Posted on 10/24/2021 3:11:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
More than 3,000 people were believed to have been killed when the River Arno flooded the streets of Florence on this day in 1333.
More than six centuries later, 101 people died when the city was flooded on the same day in 1966. The 50th anniversary of the most recent catastrophe, which took a staggering toll of priceless books and works of art in the Cradle of the Renaissance, is being commemorated in the city today.
The 1333 disaster - the first recorded flood of the Arno - was chronicled for posterity by Giovanni Villani, a diplomat and banker living in the city.
A plaque in Via San Remigio records the level the water allegedly reached in 1333 and another plaque commemorates the level the water reached after the river flooded in 1966, exactly 633 years later.
Villani wrote in his Nuova Cronica (New Chronicle), 'By noon on Thursday, 4 November, 1333, a flood along the Arno River spread across the entire plain of San Salvi.'
By nightfall, the flood waters had filled the city streets and Villani claimed the water rose above the altar in Florence's Baptistery, reaching halfway up the porphyry columns.
Apart from its two central piers, the Ponte Vecchio was swept away when huge logs in the rushing water became clogged around it, allowing the water to build and leap over the arches.
An old statue of Mars that stood on a pedestal near the Ponte Vecchio was also carried off by the flood waters, Villani recorded.
(Excerpt) Read more at italyonthisday.com ...
CU Of old map of the flooded area and of newspaper headlines telling of the flood. CU Still of old Florence. GV Florence. GV Pan down Palace, in the Piazza Signoria to statue. VS Showing the devastation caused after the floods water had subsided. The thick slush and mud, wrecked cars and buildings and people delve through to try to save their belongings and their homes. Shots of the damage to the Ponte Vecchio and other Florence landmarks. VS Flashbacks to the craftsmen working in their little shops on the Ponte Vecchio, they work in gold. More shots of damage. CU Stills of the famous pictures and works of art that have been damaged or lost in the floods.Florence Floods Aftermath (1966) | April 13, 2014 | British Pathé
Fifty years after being badly damaged in massive floods in Florence, a Renaissance masterpiece has been unveiled to the public. The presentation of Vasari's Last Supper - repaired only over the past decade thanks to new techniques - coincides with numerous events to mark the anniversary of the disaster that struck the city in 1966. The Prime Minister and other officials have taken part, thanking those involved in the massive clean-up.Renaissance masterpiece Vasari's Last Supper - repaired | November 5, 2016 | Rev Donald Spitz BabyCakesDavid
Florence's catastrophic floods: Tuscan capital devastated on same day six centuries apart [sic, the calendar has been adjusted since then]
This is exactly how people become paranoid and think the world is out to get them. I’d switch days on the calendar too.
[snip] Gregorian calendar, also called New Style calendar, solar dating system now in general use. It was proclaimed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII... By the Julian reckoning, the solar year comprised 365 1/4 days, and the intercalation of a “leap day” every four years was intended to maintain correspondence between the calendar and the seasons. A slight inaccuracy in the measurement (the solar year comprising more precisely 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.25 seconds) caused the calendar dates of the seasons to regress almost one day per century. Although this regression had amounted to 14 days by Pope Gregory’s time, he based his reform on restoration of the vernal equinox, then falling on March 11, to March 21, the date it occurred in 325 CE, which was the time of the First Council of Nicaea, and not the date of the equinox at the time of the birth of Christ, when it fell on March 25. The change was effected by advancing the calendar 10 days after October 4, 1582, the day following being reckoned as October 15. [/snip]
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gregorian-calendar
(in most English speaking countries, the transition came in October 1752)
https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/hg/colonialresearch/calendar
so it happens all the time
Let’s do the time warp again...
This crazy love of mine? Used to.
Paranoia is inherent.
With so many manuscripts and books lost, the ‘66 flood spurred the library preservation movement, especially regarding microfilm and digitization.
I was there two years after the 1966 flood. The high water was marked all over the city. The Uffitzi gallery was open but the art had been raised up above the water line. I got to see The Last Supper but from quite a distance.
I may have the wrong city but I think I remember reading about this in National Geographic when it happened. Lots of pictures of damaged art and high water marks. Back then it was just a bad flood now its climate change and we all are going to die. Gave up on Nat Geographic about 20 years ago when everything was global warming and a species a day was going extinct according to them.
Most likely it was Venice with its canal system.
AH, 1333, I remember it well.
It was the year that Climate Change was a big deal and people were trying not to exhale so they could save the planet.
Today, Climate Change is just a memory.
Both Florence and Venice, 1966. Marks are "acqua alta."
After the floods the Florence Times, the leading progressive newspaper of the day, predicted that humanity could only survive 12 more years if Europe did not replace its windmills and water wheeled mills with more modern efficient energy sources like fossil fuels.
Thanks!
That sounds great!
That’s right.
The Spanish imperial archive at Seville has been getting digitized and put online since 2005, I don’t think it’s complete yet. It’s a big ‘un.
During WWII art that could be moved was largely stashed in mines and such, or moved out of nations in combat, the war could have been so much worse on the art history of Europe.
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