On 4 November 1966, the Arno broke its banks and much of Florence''''s art was damaged. More still needs to be done to save and protect the city''''s treasures

   LONDON. Forty years ago, on 4 November 1966, Venice and Florence suffered massive flooding. The world heard most about the Florence flood because nearly one million volumes were buried under mud, oil and sewage at the Biblioteca Nazionale; the Archivio di Stato had four miles of archives submerged; some 600 paintings from the major collections had to be slowly dried; frescoes and sculpture, impregnated with oil from broken heating systems, had to be treated. The great Cimabue Crucifix was essentially destroyed. The value that Florence, home of the Renaissance, had for many was immediately demonstrated with help and money pouring in from around the world.

This international effort and the effect it has had on the conservation sector will be discussed on 10 and 11 November at a symposium organised at Villa La Pietra and Palazzo Vecchio in Florence by New York University.

There is still a lot left to be conserved, especially furniture, goldsmiths'''' work, textiles and frescoes, but the real question that should be raised here is why Florence is still not adequately protected from a repeat of this event. In an interview with our sister paper, the Giornale dell''''Arte, Giovanni Menduni, the engineer responsible for Arno river basin authority, admitted that a number of major strategic measures had still to be built and that it was only in 2005 that local and central government and his authority got together to work out a strategic plan.

The same question needs to be asked regarding Venice, which was flooded to a depth of nearly two metres above mean reference point, and whose buildings suffered badly. The mobile barriers that almost all scientists believe have to be built are still a political football in Italy, with the Green and former communist parties ideologically opposed to them.

The government is expected to convene a meeting of an inter-departmental committee early this month to decide at last whether to go ahead with this E4.5m project, but with the public accounts deficit running at over 5%, it is likely that the project would only be financed at the expense of other vital work in Venice, such as dredging the canals. What is needed is a medium and long-term plan for Venice, with realistic estimates for its protection. Only then could people start thinking constructively about how to pay for it.