Remembering the ‘mud angels’

Fifty years ago, on 4 November 1966, Italy was hit by floods, devastating two of its most historic cities: Florence and Venice. This represented the greatest loss of art and architecture from a natural disaster in 20th-century Europe. The international community quickly mobilised assistance, dispatching angeli del fango (mud angels): volunteers who helped in the emergency rescue of works of art. Everyone wanted to go and scrape mud off a Cimabue, recalls Jonathan Keates, now chairman of Venice i