Florence marks 60 years since the 1966 Arno flood with Mattarella ceremony and Mud Angels tributes

A ceremony at Palazzo Vecchio

Sergio Mattarella attended the 60th anniversary ceremony in the Salone dei 500 of Palazzo Vecchio, where the audience rose and applauded for a long time as he entered. The hall was filled with Mud Angels, mayors and institutional representatives. Before the ceremony, Mayor Sara Funaro gave the president a four-volume set of Piero Bargellini's 'La Splendida storia di Firenze'. Bargellini was mayor during the flood and is Funaro's grandfather. Eighty-one children holding flags of the countries that sent aid to Florence were present, and schoolchildren read letters sent to Bargellini after the flood. An American Mud Angel was also scheduled to give testimony.

It is a challenge, but also a duty for our institutions.

Unity, vulnerability and the environment

Speaking in Florence, Mattarella said the flood had changed Italy and brought a new impetus to society as a whole. He said the disaster made Italians aware of their vulnerability, the need to protect their territories and the fragile balance of the environment. He described protecting the environment and the safety of communities against disasters as a shared commitment for the institutions. Mattarella also said the lesson of the flood remains alive today.

Sixty years after the Florence flood, we want to believe that lesson is still alive.

The Italian president said the witnesses of that time speak to the present so that people stay alert to their shared responsibility for the future.

Firefighters, Mud Angels and the 1967 medal

The Tuscan command of the Vigili del fuoco recalled that around 1,400 firefighters went to Florence on 4 November 1966. They were joined by colleagues from other Tuscan provincial commands and from several Italian regions. Using boats, amphibious vehicles and rescue equipment, they carried out rescues and evacuations and assisted residents isolated in their homes and flooded areas. Their work extended to Maremma, Valdarno, Casentino and the Florence plain, and later covered the removal of water and mud and the recovery of buildings and heritage. The national fire corps was awarded the Medaglia d'oro al valor civile in 1967. Luigi D'Angelo, a Lucanian association president in Florence, said Salvatore Franchino, then 25 and from Senise, was among the Mud Angels who saved works including Cimabue's Crucifix in Santa Croce. An English-language report also said that some restoration work remains to be done decades later.

Commemorations across the city

Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti gave the homily at the Basilica of Santa Croce. He had been a curate at the San Salvi parish in 1966 and recalled three memories, including the rescue of an elderly woman living on the ground floor in piazza San Salvi. He thanked the people who came from everywhere to help the city.

Thank you to all those who came from everywhere to help us.

Earlier, a procession left Santa Croce for ponte alle Grazie, where a wreath was laid in the Arno in memory of the victims. Mayor Sara Funaro called the flood a wound that is still open.

It is a wound that still remains open, but also a great lesson.

Funiaro said the first Mud Angels were Florentines who went into the streets to clear mud even though they had lost everything. Tuscany's regional president Eugenio Giani said the memory of the flood is still alive and that the city rose again through courage and solidarity.

Personal memories of the flood

Luigi D'Angelo, who was a young lawyer in 1966, recalled five metres of water beyond the viale De Amicis overpass, with objects floating everywhere. He said cars were piled by the water up to 12 to 13 metres high near the Arno. The Lucanian community in Florence organised a fundraising drive, and its young members helped the Biblioteca Nazionale, where thousands of precious volumes were saved. Writer Caterina Guagni has also published the novel 'Due angeli del fango', which follows two young people who become Mud Angels in the days around the flood.