Mud Angels Arrive for Flood Commemorations

Fifty years ago on November 4, 1966 the residents and visitors of Florence were startled when the Arno River overflowed its banks during the night. The flood left the city covered in mud, and in much need of help. The volunteers, consisting of locals, students, and visitors who helped bring Florence back to life were nicknamed Mud Angels.

Among the many Mud Angels were 120 Florida State University students. They resided and studied within the hotel Albergo Capri on Via XXVII Aprile, where the FSU Florence program was inaugurated.

Five of Florida State University’s Mud Angels returned to Florence once again for the 50th anniversary of the Florence program. On February 25, 2016 a gala dinner celebrated the program’s many years of success and toasted to many more to come at Palazzo Borghese, bringing together its faculty, alumni, students, and associates. Each of the 1966 alumni came with tales to tell of their time in Florence, particularly with accounts of the disastrous flood caused by the Arno.

Mark Brandt, FSU Florence class of ‘66, recalls, “The night before the flood, it had been raining here quite a bit. Several of us were down right by the Arno, and I can remember making a comment that this river will never overflow.” To much surprise, just a few hours later water poured over the embankment, pouring into the streets and buildings, leaving behind sludge and mud.

“The stone walls adjacent to the Arno, normally 20 feet or so above the river below, still stood, but the water had overtopped them…All of the shops on the Ponte Vecchio were shells, completely blown out, and expensive jewelry the owners couldn’t carry away washed out into the Ligurian Sea.” recalls Clint Fountain, also from the 1966 FSU Florence program. Countless homes along with businesses were damaged.

The city was in turmoil. Of course, students were curious to see the damage for themselves, and some ventured out, trudging through the murky water. “I don’t remember it being scary. I mean when you’re 19 or 20, it was an adventure. It was exciting,” says Brandt. Looking back, Layne Ferguson, class of 1966, remembers “Suddenly [it] occurred to me [it’s] not a great idea to be out here and I turned around, but by that time, the alleys and side streets were also raging streams with strong currents…I misjudged the depth when I stepped off the curb and nearly fell.” Luckily, Fountain was there to help her.

She continues, “Immediately after the flood, there was so much mud and so much to clean up that it was heartbreaking. People’s faces wore shock and sadness and loss. Instead of the ever-present jumble of Italian voices talking, singing, arguing and seducing, there was near silence.”

Most of FSU’s students found themselves volunteering their time at the the National Central Library (Biblioteca Nazionale) drying out books and manuscripts, while few spent time in museums and health centers. The library had countless historical manuscripts along with books, so the students found themselves with an important job at hand and immediately went to work.

“Somebody here would hand me this glob and I would pass it down to the next person. That’s how we got them out of the basement and we understood that the books were taken upstairs to safety. The restoration process was stated there with pages being cleaned and set to dry,”  says Doreen Cohen, another 1966 FSU Florence alumni. From his time in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Fountain remembers “At one point, one of my classmates, curious what he was handling, wiped the mud from the cover of the folio he was holding. It was by Machiavelli.”

In addition the students of course helped here and there throughout the city with random acts of kindness. In a time like this, compassion was necessary. “There was jewelry in the mud…People were picking up jewelry and putting it in their pockets. And I picked up a ring, a gold ring. There was a policeman and I gave it to him, and he put it in his pocket. I just gave it to him because people were stealing it, and the merchants were screaming and yelling,” Margie Thompson, class of 1966, remembers.

Residents as a whole couldn’t express enough appreciation for its volunteers, as they worked hard to return their beautiful city to normalcy. Finally, the Florence they knew and love came back to surface once again. “The miracle was that, if I remember correctly, by the time we left in the spring, she was almost back to her full beauty. Yes, the doors to il Duomo hadn’t been repaired and there was restoration that still hadn’t been completed, but the heart and bones were back.  The language on the streets was again musical and people were busy and happy. There was a true resurrection,” recalls Ferguson.

Even to this day, the people of Florence appreciate all of the hard work people put into helping the city through recovery. “Still, people talk about it, like my friend and I will go to the market and she will introduce me as an Angelo del Fango [Mud Angel], and they just come up and hug me and tell me their stories,” shares Harriet Coverston, class of 1966.

For the FSU Florence students, there were many lessons learned through their time in Italy, especially due to their experiences regarding the flood of the Arno. Their time spent abroad left a lasting impact on each of their lives. “I took the photos during the flood, and got the pictures out to a newspaper in England.  A crew flew out my film, developed it and the shots were used in newspapers all over the world. That, pretty much, started my photojournalism career,” Ken Kobre, class of 1966, recalls.

Brandt adds, “It was the best year that I had spent in college, without exception. I think it really broadened my horizons and it probably affected my political and philosophical outlook on life up until today.” The former students also mentioned how their time in Italy forced them to mature into the adults they quickly became.

“Florence taught me to see. I arrived arrogant, naïve, ignorant, myopic, and ethnocentric. I left humbled; somewhat more sophisticated; having a tiny bit more knowledge of myself, history, and artistic expression in myriad forms; and appreciative of other people and cultures,” Ferguson said.

The 1966 flood of the Arno River will forever be an event that taught its residents and visitors how easily life can change in an instant, as well as how to come together to support each other during times of need.  A half a century later, this tragic event is remembered as if it were yesterday, and surely it will be that way for times to come. (dana leger)