On Saturday, November 4, 2006, Florence marked the 40th anniversary of the flood with exhibits, memorials and events all over the city. Many shops put up their own photographs of the flood in their windows - which was very interesting, since many of these pictures are originals, not the shots you see over and over again in books and old postcards.

Photos: Florence Flood, November 2006.

The lavanderia on Via dei Neri had several interesting photographs, including one of the street decorated for Christmas that year - Christmas 1966 in Florence must have been a pretty somber event.

There was a mass at Santa Maria del Fiore, and a special exhibit of photographs by David Lees, who photographed the flood for Life magazine, opened in the Palazzo Vecchio. The exhibit is very moving and very well presented - I will be going back again before it closes.

At night the banks of the Arno were lit, as were the bridges. The Ponte Vecchio and the Ponte alle Grazie were bathed in an eerie purple light, and fog machines on the banks of the river produced a mysterious effect. The Palazzo Vecchio and most of the statues in Piazza della Signoria and the Loggia dei Lanzi also had the purple light effect, while in the Loggia itself there were video and slide presentations of the flood and the clean-up, set to moody, techno-style music.

This is really just a quick look at some of what happened on Saturday. There was also a large exhibit of all the civil services in Piazza Santa Croce, speeches on the steps of the Palazzo Vecchio, and a full day of events inside for the mud angels. We'll keep posting news and updates as we hear about things.

And here is some video of the event: