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The latest issue of The Curators’ Quaderno, produced by Calliope Arts and Restoration Conversations with The Florentine Press, focuses on women’s work during and after Florence’s 1966 flood. Photographs and accompanying text document rescue efforts at Museo Galileo, the city’s cleanup and the restoration of damaged books at the National Central Library.
The latest issue of The Curators’ Quaderno examines women’s roles in Florence’s response to the 1966 Arno flood, using photographs and historical accounts to show efforts to save museum objects, clear mud and restore damaged books. Titled “Women of the Flood: A New Future for Florence,” the publication was created by Calliope Arts and Restoration Conversations, with The Florentine Press; The Florentine published a picture-led report on it on October 26, 2026.
One image shows Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli, then director of the Museum of History of Science, now Museo Galileo. According to the report, she moved valuable objects to upper floors as the flood threatened the building. Fearing it might collapse, she climbed out a window, edged along the wall and entered the Uffizi through a window, making repeated trips to carry objects to safety. The items included Galileo’s telescope, compasses and astrolabes. The image is credited to Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli and the Galileo Museum Archives.
A photograph from the Alinari Archives depicts a woman using a pitcher to wash sludge from the door of the Duomo’s rectory. The report describes a city facing an immense cleanup, with about 600,000 tons of mud and rubble left by the flood and heavy equipment and aid from Rome arriving slowly. The account also links the disaster’s aftermath to a change in women’s clothing: it says Florentine women began wearing trousers in public that November. The photograph is credited to Vincenzo Balocchi and the Alinari Archives, with courtesy of the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia.
The publication also documents the National Central Library’s restoration work. The library lost more than 1.3 million books and periodicals to the sludge, according to the report. Washing of materials began at the railway station, described as one of the few places in the city with running water. Young volunteers from Italy and abroad became known as the Mud Angels; photographs show them working to recover Florence’s cultural holdings. The report names bookbinder Dorothy Cumpstey and chemist Margaret Hey among the women involved in the library’s work.
Women’s Work in the Recovery
The images shift attention from Florence’s damaged buildings and collections to the people who tried to protect and repair them. They record practical work that could otherwise be obscured in accounts focused on the flood itself: moving scientific instruments out of danger, cleaning public spaces and salvaging books under difficult conditions.
The library’s experience also shows how emergency recovery developed into organized conservation. By spring 1967, the National Central Library had established a permanent restoration laboratory, with work spanning analysis, washing, drying, mending and rebinding. The report says the library still supports a programme to recover and restore holdings damaged by the flood. The issue thus connects individual acts of rescue to a longer institutional effort.
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From Flood Rescue to Conservation
In November 1966, the Arno flooded Florence, damaging buildings, collections and other parts of the city. The report describes a large-scale cleanup and the arrival of young people from around the world who volunteered to save cultural materials. The National Central Library became a major focus of that work, while the railway station served as an initial location for washing books because it had running water.
The Curators’ Quaderno’s new issue brings together photographs and accounts of those efforts, including material from the Galileo Museum Archives, the Alinari Archives and the National Central Library of Florence. Its subject is not only the scale of the damage but the contribution of women to the rescue and restoration response.
What the Report Leaves Open
The Florentine report describes selected photographs and historical episodes, but does not provide the full contents of the Quaderno, its page count or details about where and how readers can obtain it. It also does not give further documentation for the reported change in clothing or explain how the figure of 600,000 tons was calculated. Those details cannot be established from the supplied account alone.
The report identifies women and volunteers involved in the work, but does not quantify women’s overall share of the flood response or set out a complete list of participants. The images offer specific examples, not a comprehensive record of everyone who took part.
The Quaderno’s Reach and Record
The latest issue is the current development covered by the report. No further release dates, events or follow-up projects are specified in the available material. Readers seeking publication or access details will need information from the publishers, Calliope Arts, Restoration Conversations or The Florentine Press.
The National Central Library’s restoration programme continues, according to the report, but it gives no current totals for materials still awaiting repair or recently restored. The Quaderno’s photographs and archival credits provide a route for readers to explore the documented episodes while those broader figures remain unreported.
Key Questions
What is “Women of the Flood: A New Future for Florence”?
It is the latest issue of The Curators’ Quaderno, created by Calliope Arts and Restoration Conversations with The Florentine Press. It documents women’s roles in Florence’s 1966 flood response through photographs and historical accounts.
Who was Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli?
She was director of the Museum of History of Science, now Museo Galileo. The report says she moved valuable objects to safety during the flood, including Galileo’s telescope, compasses and astrolabes.
What happened to the National Central Library?
The report says more than 1.3 million books and periodicals were lost in the sludge at the library. Restoration work included analysis, washing, drying, mending and rebinding, and a permanent laboratory was established by spring 1967.
Who were the Mud Angels?
The term refers to young men and women who came to Florence from around the world to help salvage the city’s cultural treasures after the flood. The report includes photographs of volunteers at work.
Source: theflorentine.net
