November 4th was the 50th anniversary of the devastating flood which took so many lives and damaged so many priceless works of art, some beyond repair. I personally, vividly remember the photo of the Accademia's ‘David’ perched defiantly above a sea of brown ooze and water in Life magazine’s piece on the tragedy.
Salvage and restoration efforts of the city’s treasures was nothing short of miraculous. A Vasari masterpiece, for instance, which has taken five decades of painstaking work is finally back on display in Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce:
Those of you who have Florence in your plans this year and who may be too young to remember this disastrous event might be interested in some archival images of the destruction:
http://photothek.khi.fi.it/documents/oau/00000222
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