(October 26, 2016) The vulnerability of Italy’s artistic treasures became appallingly clear during the devastating floods of November 1966. The damage wrought in Florence and Venice that month catalyzed supporters around the world to protect and preserve architectural and artistic treasures. What began as an immediate response to the floods in 1966 has evolved into a sustained effort by private organizations in many countries to preserve Italy’s artistic patrimony. This lecture scheduled for November 3 at the Italian Institute of Culture in New York (18-20) will explain the dramatic 1966 Venetian flood and its aftermath that led to the birth of Save Venice Inc., and also underscore the enormous importance of Venice’s artistic patrimony and its influence worldwide. Recent restoration projects completed to commemorate the flood will be illustrated, as fifty years after the catastrophic events, the American organizations Friends of Florence and Save Venice Inc. proudly joined forces on the conservation of drawings by the Venetian artist Gianbattista Tiepolo in the Horne Collection in Florence and the restoration of a Tuscan work in Venice, the Maestà by the Master of Badia a Isola in Venice’s Galleria Palazzo Cini. La conferenza, organizzata dall’Iic in collaborazione con Save Venice, vedrà la partecipazione di Melissa Conn (Director Venice Office, Save Venice Inc) e Xavier F. Salomon (Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator of The Frick Collection). (Red)
