Protecting Artwork During War - Florence, Italy

This past weekend (29-30 Settembre) was European Heritage Weekend. This meant, in Firenze anyway, that the state museums were free to enter. While I spent my Saturday morning at Steve Armes' landscape workshop in Fiesole and the afternoon painting in my room, I was up rather early on Sunday morning to stand in line at the famous Galleria d'Uffizi.

There was a photography exhibit on the first floor from World War II. On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war and
immediately began to make plans to protect its artworks. The first step was to move all that could be moved out of the
city of Florence into the neighboring countryside areas that were considered to be less of a target. What was not able to be moved were artworks such as frescoes in churches, carved portals, fountains, tombs, and, of course, large sculptures, such as Michelangelo's 'David.'

The exhibit was titled "Protezione dell opere d'arte" (opera = work, singular; opere d'arte = works of art). There were originally more than 5000 black and white photographs taken from 1940 to 1945 by the personnel of the Gabinetto Fotografico. However, many of them were lost in the great flood of 1966. (Markers showing the water levels that November can be seen in various points around the Renaissance city.)

I was especially intrigued by a photograph labeled "Firenze Galleria dell' Accademia. Lavori di protezione antiaerea del David di Michelangelo 25 gennaio 1943" In January of 1943,'David' was first wrapped up in place at the Accademia and then enclosed in a tall brick cylinder with a continuous dome cap (almost shaped like a grain storage "bullet" you see on American farms). This same "false wall" system was used to fully surround frescoe paintings and other substantial works of art in Florence.

On 30 July 1944, an evacuation of the city of Firenze / Florence around the bridges over the Arno River was ordered. But on the morning (night) of 4 August, the Germans bombed and destroyed all bridges, except the Ponte Vecchio. Liberation came later that month. However, there were four sculptures on the Ponte di Santa Trinita, representing each of the seasons, that were destroyed in the bombings. While most of the sculpture parts were found relatively quickly and restored, it was not until 7 October 1961 that the head of "Spring" (primavera) was finally found at the bottom on the Arno during some river maintenance!

(ponte = bridge; vecchio = old)

If you would like to read about the flood of 1966, please visit:
4 November 2006 Newsletter