Governor Chafee and the Committee to Rescue Italian Art

Object Type: Folder
In Folder: State Photographer Alex Tavares photographs, 1957-1994

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Governor Chafee and the Committee to Rescue Italian Art

During the night of November 4, 1966, the levels of the river Arno began to rise swiftly and with little warning. The Arno flows through the very center of the city of Florence and in perilous proximity to many of its most significant monuments. The river was already swollen, and the surrounding area saturated, by heavy rains that autumn. The Uffizi, the Accademia, the national library and state archives, the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio are among the countless artistic and cultural treasures concentrated within Florence’s historic center, and they all lay within the floodplain. In the hours following the flood, when the full extent of the catastrophe began to emerge, a massive show of solidarity erupted across the world. National and international committees to save the artworks sprang up spontaneously in many countries, and collections of funds and material goods began in many Italian cities. As soon as news of the disaster reached the United States, concerned scholars of Italian art and culture leapt into action to help save the precious artistic heritage of Florence and other cities, especially Venice, ravaged by floods. Following the impulse given by Fred Licht and Bates Lowry, professors of art history at Brown University, and Meg Licht, an art historian, a group of distinguished scholars, curators, and conservators quickly joined forces to create the Committee to Rescue Italian Art (CRIA). The group’s aim was to raise money to support the emergency rescue operations already underway as well as provide effective long-term assistance for the huge task of restoration ahead. In addition to artworks and monuments, the Committee promptly expanded its scope to include damaged books and manuscripts from libraries and archives. Within a week of the flood, CRIA was already functioning nationwide and had secured large pledges for the recovery efforts.

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Governor Chafee and the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, November 15, 1966

6/20/19, 6:49 PM