Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Forty years after devastating flooding claimed 37 lives and ravaged Florence's artistic heritage, the city remains at risk, experts say.
"We will commemorate the flood with great pomp, but we are not much better protected than before," said Sandro Bennucci, author of L'Arno Che Verra" (The Arno That Will Come".
He predicts that as much as 30 billion euros (38 billion dollars) of damage could be caused by a similar flood today in the cradle of the Renaissance.
Forty years ago on the night of November 3, torrential rains drenched the region, causing dikes to crumble one after another on the Arno and its tributaries.
Museums, churches and the National Library were inundated with a mixture of mud and naphtha, the oil used in the city's furnaces at the time.
Some 60 percent of the city's cultural heritage was damaged, and many paintings, frescoes and precious books have still not been restored.
The Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a world-famous art restoration institute here, only recently began work on a "Last Supper" by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574).
"It's the last major masterpiece to restore, but it will take years and years" to return the fresco, which is some six meters (nearly 20 feet) long, to its original spendor, the institute's deputy director Cecilia Frosinini, told AFP.
When the great flood struck, thousands of people swarmed to Florence from all over Italy and overseas to save the city's cultural heritage.
Pictures of students lined up to pass each other precious old books swollen with water were flashed around the world and recall a moment of exceptional solidarity in Italy's collective memory.
At the time, Giovanni Menduni was only 13. Today he heads the Arno River Basin Authority and is concerned for the future. "Lots of small things have been done, but we still need a major project to really protect us," he said.
Engineers lowered the level of the river between the two bridges most frequented by tourists, and raised separation walls between the Arno and the city sidewalks.
"The weather outlook is also much better, but we must look at things head-on. Florence will be widely flooded and the damage will be worse because there are many more threatened objects than before," Menduni said.
"We commemorate the events of 1966 like a bit of bad luck. But we forget that since 1177 there have been 56 floods, including eight of extraordinary magnitude," he said, noting that "Leonardo da Vinci considered a canal to move water out of Florence."
Five centuries later, Menduni has another plan for averting the worst, which would require clearing areas around the river to absorb floodwaters.
"District mayors are well aware that it is necessary, but they are all doing a little passive resistance, hoping that the project will involve the district next door," said Piero Baronti, an official of Legambiente, an environmental association.
Another major problem is funding.
"The total cost of these operations is estimated at 200 million euros (256 million dollars). Well, the government promised seven million in its draft 2007 budget," said Bennucci, noting that past projects were not completed for lack of investment.
arb/gd/gk
AFPEntertainment-Italy-art-floods-anniversary
AFP 011143 GMT 11 06
COPYRIGHT 2006 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
