WHAZHOT · MADE IN FLO' · ONLY IN FLO' · DISCOUNT COUPONS
sections
Booking
.
culture
.
Don’t worry, we can fix it... Florentine restorers are the best!
[Susan Glasspool]
You’ve been in Florence for a while now and - without making any particular effort - you must have seen that it is really stuffed with art works. Now try and go back in time to November 1966, when Florence suffered terrible flooding from the Arno, and imagine what all that water and debris did to the monuments and their contents. The cellars, ground floors and sometimes even the 2nd floors of the museums and libraries, as well of course of the houses, took months to clear out, clean and restore. In fact many things still have to be restored...Such a disaster, in a city like Florence, with its countless art works, brought flocks of volunteer helpers (the so-called mud angels) and experts to Florence. They took part in cleaning up the city - the Florentines worked equally hard of course - and gradually teams of experts took over the restoration of the badly damaged art works and books. Highly specialised restoration laboratories had always existed here to carry out day to day repairs or restoration on resident works as well as those from Italy and abroad. These in their turn involved experts in specific sectors: painting (on wood, on canvas), frescoes, sculpture (stone, wood, marble), furniture, books, textiles and the buildings themselves.
The flood brought all the greatest experts in the world to Florence and when great minds put their heads together you may be sure that there are results! In fact, ever since then, they have all been in regular contact, comparing methods and techniques, especially after any natural disasters. It made Florence one of the greatest centres of restoration in the world, in fact the Bronzes from Riace were restored here, the Bronze from Lussino (Croatia), damaged works from Budapest, Montauban (France), and of course from elsewhere in Italy.
One of the most important restorations was perhaps the Christ by Cimabue. I saw it in all its glory before the flood, and then immediately afterwards, in Santa Croce. It had been washed clean of its paint and there was very little left. I saw it again soon after when the restorers first took it in hand and really thought that it was lost forever. What you can see today is a really brilliant piece of restoration. The important art works damaged in the bomb outrage on the Uffizi and the Georgofili in 1993, the Madonna del Cardellino by Raffaello, the ancient Cross of Rosano and the wonderful Monstrance from Palermo (silver, enamels and diamonds), known as the Golden Sphere, which fell to bits in 1871, were all restored here in Florence. A Florentine firm recently even restored all the rooms in the Kremlin.
Then there are still many flood victims waiting their turn to be repaired and given new life - which just gives you an idea how much damage Florence suffered nearly 40 years ago - and hopefully will soon take their place again in the various museums, libraries and monuments.
Florence now proposes itself as a City of Restoration, in fact a web site is being prepared - www.firenzerestauro.it -, which will involve all those working in this sector in the metropolitan area, and the City Council intends building the city’s future around it. This immense heritage, which gives work to an amazing number of people, will thus be available for all to consult, use and search for experts as well as for advice. Perhaps some of our readers will decide to remain in Florence and study this subject (or a sector of it) as a career.
Keep an eye on the web site for future developments...
MORE
http://www.firenzerestauro.it