Florence: A Disaster Area.

The author discusses the damage caused by the November 1966 flash flood in Florence, Italy. He focuses on the water and mud damage sustained by the archives of the National Library, which includes more than 500,000 books, 20,000 manuscripts and 3,500 pieces of incunabula. Efforts to mitigate the damage to the items in the National Library were made, such as the placement of absorbent paper between the pages of wet books and the transfer of the most valuable books and documents to monasteries for preservation and restoration.