Image by Library of Congress

FLORENCE, ITALY – A major exhibition opening this week showcases hundreds of items of Jewish cultural heritage that were salvaged from the devastating 1966 Florence flood and restored to their original condition.

The exhibit, “And the Waters Receded,” opens Thursday at Florence’s National Library. It displays hundreds of rare Jewish books, documents, archives and Judaica items, some of them centuries old, which were damaged when the Arno River overflowed its banks on November 3-4, 1966.

“After 50 years, we have been able to recover and restore to our city a fundamental patrimony, which bears witness to the attachment of the Jewish community to tradition and to the history of Florence,” said Renzo Funaro of the Foundation for Jewish Cultural Heritage, who coordinated the initiative along with a representative of the National Library.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The exhibit is one of a number of events marking the 50th anniversary of 1966 floods, which devastated the city and seriously damaged hundreds of thousands of books, paintings and other items held in Florence’s museums, libraries, churches and private collections.

Among the Jewish material damaged were 95 Torah scrolls – only three of which could be saved; 15,000 books, only 8,000 of which could be saved, and hundreds of ritual objects, furnishings and textiles.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount