When The World Answered

water rushing

NARRATOR

It was a historic and cataclysmic flood which threated lives and some of mankind's most precious

LINDA FALCONE

The whole world damaged in some very profound

PAOLA VOJNOVIC

We have so many things that were lost over time.

NARRATOR

This is the story of how the world answered. came and answered Florence's plea. They did it because I think the And how it's still answering 50 years later.

LINDA FALCONE

It bears witness to the good that can come from pain or that can come

ANNOUNCER

"When the World Answered" is made possible through the generous support of

NARRATOR

The great Arno River passes right through the city of Florence Italy. The city of Man, of Galileo, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci, who said a single drop of water can gather and reflect all the places it passes, and in time water eventually changes everything. In, 1966, without warning, the Arno burst out of its banks in the night when most were sleeping.

NICHOLAS KRACZYNA

I had a only afford one roll of film at

NARRATOR

Nicholas Kraczyna took some of the first recorded still images.

NICHOLAS KRACZYNA

I went out to the bridge and it was exhilarating, it was very dark because it was overcast. Frightening. I would have to hold my breath and wait for a dramatic moment in snap. It is amazing how young mind does not consider what Here I am, this is a historic moment and I'm going to living through it.

My own personal history and Florence's history are

NARRATOR

Internationally acclaimed movie director, Franco Zeffirlli recorded the only known film of the watery With unparalleled intensity, the raging water destroyed homes, lives, and some of the world's most precious Not since the Renaissance had a flood caused such devastation. 4 million rare books from the library. 14,000 masterpieces. Ghiberti's "Doors of Paradise" ripped open.

Donatello's "Mary Magdalene" Santa Croce's "Chimabue." Vasari's "Last Supper."

BURTON NARRATES

"The water starts coming into the city and it rises so fast that no one has time to save or bring away from museums and churches those art treasures on which Florence is so rich. of Michelangelo, of Galileo, of Machiavelli

NARRATOR

Narrated by Richard Burton, "Days of Destruction" is

ANTONIA BARGELLINI

Zeffirelli's film, I cannot

NARRATOR

Antonia Bargellini was 22 years old when her family's home was nearly submerged.

ANTONIA BARGELLINI

We were afraid that buildings would collapse, because the water rose 5 meters higher. We saw the diesel flowing out, we were afraid that it would

NARRATOR

Her father, Mayor Piero Bargellini, governed rooftop to rooftop amidst the shouts of

ANTONIA BARGELLINI

And it seemed to be almost back to the middle Ages because of the silence, no light, no water, no nothing. And those voices that you could hear through the night were very

NICHOLAS KRACZYNA

It was like out of Dante's Inferno because it was silence. And the only thing you could hear were oars dipping into the water and all these people on the boat were frozen and as soon as they touch land everyone was animated it was as though people turn on their sound. And right then and there I decided I would photograph the people of Florence and Florence and what happened to them and how the city was resurrected

ANTONIA BARGELLINI

And when we came out in this Florence covered in mud, dirty, we were welcomed by other parts of the city in a unthinkable way and a great sense of camaraderie began to develop which in my opinion

NARRATOR

The response to Zeffirelli's film was overwhelming. Thousands of volunteers. Millions in aid. First responders were mostly students who became known as

JANE FORTUNE

And those mud angels were kids, basically, that came from all over the world, and helped get out of the museums and into places where

POALA TROISE

Of course it was terrible. mud, no food. But I remember it was an

LINDA FALCONE

It was a the capital of humanism, the capital of culture, the whole

JANE FORTUNE

It actually brought the world to Florence and showed Florence how much the

NARRATOR

The flood forced in a new era of scientific discovery in the field of restoration both in art, also precious books.

ALLESANDRO SIDOTI

Right after the flood, they close the library actually trying to move the things up and start the

NARRATOR

Here at the National Central Library in Florence,

SIDOTI

They did some mistakes in the very beginning. They tried to clean things up using sponges and they use sawdust on the material that added dirt to dirt. No one knew what to do. And they started washing books in the railway station.

That was the only place in Florence where they had clean water.

NARRATOR

The flood destroyed 4 million rare books. Today there are seven conservators who still wash and trim, For some materials and works of art, it has taken 50 years to develop restoration techniques that work. Across town at the Opificio Pietre Dure, scientific developments continue to save

PAOLA VOJNOVIC

They are probably one of the most the world. They can pretty much restore any

NARRATOR

After over 40 years in storage, a technique has finally been developed to save

POALA VOJNOVIC

Up until three years ago it was completely covered with Japanese paper. So it's a huge work of art and came in and all you saw were these white boards. Hopefully it will be back in 2016 when we have the 50th

NARRATOR

Vasari's "Last Supper" will eventually return to Florence's Basilica of Santa Croce, resting place for Florence's greats and perhaps

GIUSEPPE DE MICHELI

This is the Cloister. The room of "The Last Supper" The huge place where probably 300 monks gathered to eat was that lowest place in

NARRATOR

Secretary General, Giuseppe De Micheli points to the water marks in the Cloister where Vasari's "Last Supper" and dozens of masterpieces were Santa Croce is both a church and museum of fine are. Part of the allure of Florence is seeing great works of art in the very places where patrons and artists intended for them to be seen...

POALA VOJNOVIC

Santa Croce is the pantheon of Italian greats. Many great Italian men and women are buried here. We have Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Machiavelli, Ghiberti and an empty monument to Dante

NARRATOR

The Chimabue's crucifix, Santa Croce's very first piece of art, became a victim of the flood...and a

POALA VOJNOVIC

The Chimabue's crucifix was restored over a ten-year time and it lost about 50% of its face. When the work was restored it became a symbol of resurrection, it got to live again, it was

NARRATOR

Santa Croce is restoring and protecting treasures from future floods by

JANE FORTUNE

They have literally taken every piece that's precious, and they have hung it-or put it up so high, they made sure that it-that if a flood came, that they've got a mechanism that it will even raise these things up all the way up so that they could never ever be destroyed by the flood

NARRATOR

In the cloister where flood waters reached 22 feet high... Felicie de Fauveau's monument, restored by advancing women artists in 2013, Today, Florence is a vibrant city. It's charm lies in narrow streets and impressive architecture and art. 50 years later, the only reminders of the flood are the Antonia Bargollini still lives in her family's home, it is difficult to imagine it being submerged in 22 feet of water.

JANE OFF-SCREEN

So it went up to the terrace?

LINDA OFF-SCREEN

Say, up to that? Those windows were all covered, Jane.

NARRATOR

Not far away, photographer Nicholas Swietlan Kraczyna is now a distinguished professor at Il Bisante School of Graphic

NICHOLAS KRACZYNA

I had no intentions of ever staying forever in Florence but because of the flood, because of what happened and after the flood, seeing the city reborn I felt at All the detail there, and there of course it transfers here.

LINDA

Amazing!

NARRATOR

Il Bisante was submerged in the flood. Florence's art community. Another founder, art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti worked with Mayor Piero Bargollini to raise worldwide public awareness to the needs of Florentine cultural One of Ragghianti's most memorable initiatives was the

JANE FORTUNE

Once the flood came, he put out a plea to the international community, to have people donate works of art to the city. He kind of played on flood. But in doing that, he got a lot

LINDA FALCON

He wanted to restore ancient art but he also wanted to restore this city is

NARRATOR

The municipality of notable works by men and women from all over the world. They came with different styles and various levels of talent, united by a single promise their works would one day become part of Florence's International Museum The women artists who donated became known as flood ladies and they helped Ragghianti stage shows and auctions, but the dream of a new museum soon faded away And the works disappeared It would be decades before those

JANE FORTUNE

One of the museum directors came to us with found by women and she didn't know they were in her storage. works of art by women. that.

NARRATOR

Jane fortune is the founder of a global organization known as advancing women

JANE FORTUNE

My quest is to recuperate a vital part of Florence's is unknown cultural history and to celebrate these invisible women by making their works

NARRATOR

Florentines call her Indiana Jane for her efforts to

PAOLA VOJNOVIC

In most get to see too many female artists. I think Jane has helped in a way

NARRATOR

Success has come from building relationships between women museum curators

MANGNOLIE SCUDIELIA

I think create new attention of these

NARRATOR

Advancing women artists is credited with making visible dozens of works by women But now the focus was on the flood and writing a book about the forgotten works of the contemporary women artists known Restoration of their work was

ROSSELLA LARI

They were on display for a short period of time at the Palazza Vecchio and the Florentines, not everyone had seen them and one of the first things I said to Jane and Linda when I first met them was storage. That's the best thing we could do.'

NARRATOR

Before the flood restoration was considered a man's trade but now it's a field dominated by women artists like

ROSSELLA LARI

Women restorers can retain lots of tings in their heads, not just a few and they can grasp each and every meaning, they can get the whole reasons that we felt that we should do this project is because these pieces have not been seen. And they are a part of history that relates to these 1966 flood. And we felt that this was a selfless giving part, giving on their part. And we just felt that their

LINDA FALCON

Who are these women artists? What do they contribute?

NARRATOR

The search for the flood ladies revealed that only a few were still living. Most had left lively legacies in wondrous places, like the mountainous village of Anticoli From the late 20's it was a village of artists known for the beautiful young women like

LINDA FALCON

She started her career on the other side of the canvas. She started as a model when she first started she was an illiterate beautiful young woman, and her husband painted her for the entirety of his life in all ways. She became educated and she

NARRATOR

Today many of Pasquarosa's paintings are found at the civic museum of modern art here...managed in part by women were more important and we have to consider something else. That the husbands would exhibit through their wives work. For example, my grandfather caring more about his wife's success. The two were an unbreakable Pasquarosa continued to paint and after the flood, was asked to donate her work.

"Dusty Miller" reflects her love for flowers and fabrics and

LINDA FALCON

There were Some of the greatest artists working in Italy at the time PAOLO BERTOLETTI

in Italian

LINDA FALCON

: Pasquarosa was a grandmother

NARRATOR

The search for surviving flood ladies led to Amalia Charde Dupree's studio

LINDA FALCON

Amalia Dupree is an 80-year-old sculptress. She says women are more likely to risk and if you look at history, the women artists who succeeded were willing to get

NARRATOR

During WWII, the Germans commandeered Dupree's home, used it as a headquarters and systematically went about

LINDA FALCON

This was conscious destruction And since that moment she began to use art as a way

NARRATOR

After the flood, commissions for her work many were religious in nature, many with themes of motherhood and Her gift to Florence is called 'maternity'.

LINDA FALCON

And it's amazing created is this woman with her hands raised up in the air holding a child.

NARRATOR

In Tivoli, just outside of Rome, Fortune and Falcone would encounter one of the most remarkable, determined

GUIDI

Look how beautiful the clay is to work, and the same can be said about with the iron, hard to believe, that looks

LINDA FALCON

One of the first things I noticed about Stefania is she is this tiny woman with these tiny hands and she is a sculptress. And I said to myself, that's what a sculptress

GUIDI

Look at the tools that

we have here

these are the tools... With this one you knead, look. With this one you polish the Well, now I think you can all go Can you hear the different sound from the wood, because I touched the soul of the wood? Instead you have to touch only the bark!

JANE FORTUNE

There was a piece out there that she had, I guess, not worked on for a little bit. And she got all excited about this piece. She, I mean, all of a sudden, you could just see the creative juices, you know, turning in her head. And she got her chisel and started chiseling.

Here were all the pieces of wood on the floor, all around her feet. And they wanted her to stop, and I don't think she sleeps an

NARRATOR

Guidi is a Marquis' Daughter, married to her creative equal, composer Michele Paradiso, together they live and create in a countryside home surrounded by more than 800 of

STEFANIA GUIDI

Who am I? I am a sculptor and engraver. I have dedicated my entire life created so many works that every time I look at them, I can see

LINDA FALCON

She is very secure in her work as well. She says I dare anyone to come in here and look at these sculptures and say and that leg, she said it pointing to a sculpure, I dare anyone to say

NARRATOR

There is energy in every corner of this home.

JANE FORTUNE

They then said we were staying, we had to stay for lunch. Well, lunch is this wonderful family affair. And you know, over there, family is the most important thing. And also the most important thing is the matriarch, the woman, the head.

And they had the family there, and they had, they had more food, I mean, they could have fed an army with all the food they gave us. They only spoke Italian, you knew what they were saying. I mean, you literally knew what the flood ladies donated at least 40 pieces of art to proposed museum, not all were masterpieces, all expressed a And what of the museum? Forty-eight years later this The long awaited museum of 1900's opened in 2014 in Santa Maria novella's evocative The advancing women artists' foundation, whose mission is to safeguard and promote art by women, a still hidden part of Florence's heritage.

Set about restoring 31 of the donated works by women, languishing in storage in the Today these flood ladies are regarded as some of the most significant 20th century women

POALA TRIOSE

I was completely astonished. So really for me it was a pleasure.

RAIMONDA LEONE

Fiora, she was really personable, all the Florentine people, they love color. Because she was always full of

Italian

VIOLANTE BELLINI

She is so funny so fantastic, she so

RAFFAELLA DE PASQUALE

She she'd often say 'I know, I know, what would happen with my In fact to be here, to have her sculpture here is very

NARRATOR

When the world answered, it did so with

PAOLA VOJNOVIC

The power of this city is that people come from all over the world and I think when they can, they do

NARRATOR

The world's answer brought scientific discoveries and restoration

JANE FORTUNE

Everything we do today is because of that flood because what they found they could do by everybody sharing

NARRATOR

When the world answered it brought selfless giving by artists...women artists...whose work would be rediscovered, restored and celebrated in a new book and on

LINDA FALCON

It's not in the end about institution it's about people and when people decide to give value to something they can

NARRATOR

When the world answered it brought a message of love for

NICHOLAS KRACZYNA

So many artists will often learn what they need to learn take from Florence and leave. I stayed and I not only took from Florence but I gave to Florence. I became one of the artists and this is the place I feel at And I think it was because I was here at that moment of the

JANE FORTUNE

Florence really awaked me to so many things. It made me who I am today. I left saying that I would always, I would go back some day and give back to that city in some way. I had no idea what that would be.

But it's turned into a much larger project than I thought it just had a profound effect on me. And I think it does on most

ANNOUNCER

"When the World Answered" is made possible through the generous support of