Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces

On November 4, 1966, the city of Florence was inundated by the waters of the Arno River. Beyond the human and economic cost, the flood destroyed or damaged hundreds of works from the Western world's greatest collections of art and sent shock waves around the world. Thousands came and millions were raised to help with the rescue and restoration efforts. DARK WATER brings the flood and its aftermath to life through the voices of witnesses past and present. Two young American artists carrying their baby wade through the flooded city witnessing the Ponte Vecchio buried in debris, the swamped Uffizi Gallery, and, in libraries, one billion pages of books soaked in mire and oil. A Life magazine photographer arrives by helicopter to capture the drama amid the flooded tombs of Machiavelli and Michelangelo. A British student spends a month scraping mud and mold from masterworks as infighting among international art experts and connoisseurs erupts around him. Combining a thousand-year historical scope with intimate detail, DARK WATER is a chronicle of natural disaster and human genius and their lasting effects on one of the world's most beloved cities.

Review :
""Dark Water" is not simply the best book yet about the flood that devastated Florence in November, 1966; it's a new kind of art history--one that reflects on the transformation of a real Italian city (Firenze) into an imaginary city that's become almost a museum of itself (Florence)." - Robert Hellenga, author of "The Sixteen Pleasures " "A miraculous book, a passionate inquiry into the spirit that sustains the beauty of art and its more vexing sibling, religion. "Dark Water" is a mystery story and a memoir, set in a city of incomparable riches and dark fascinations. Clark's masterwork of quest literature deftly combines investigative journalism, meticulous history, and, best of all, a cast of indelible characters whose lives move through Florence and its floods with novelistic power and suspense." -- Patricia Hampl, author of "The Florist's Daughter" " ""Lovers of Florence / Firenze will fall into "Dark Water" headfirst. This is an engrossing, layered, and int "A miraculous book, a passionate inquiry into the spirit that sustains the beauty of art and its more vexing sibling, religion. "Dark Water" is a mystery story and a memoir, set in a city of incomparable riches and dark fascinations. Clark's masterwork of quest literature deftly combines investigative journalism, meticulous history, and, best of all, a cast of indelible characters whose lives move through Florence and its floods with novelistic power and suspense." -- Patricia Hampl, author of "The Florist's Daughter" " ""Lovers of Florence / Firenze will fall into "Dark Water" headfirst. This is an engrossing, layered, and intelligent voyage into the history of artists' relationships to the capricious river Arno. Robert Clark deepens our knowledge of this most poetic of cities, with an unstinting and loving examination of the politics and love brought to bear on the flood of 1966 and the ongoing reverberations that persist. A formidable accomplishment." --Frances Mayes, author of "Under the Tuscan Sun ""A wonderfully intimate evocation both of the geniuses that created Florence's masterpieces and the teams of art experts and 'mud angels' who rescued them. Anyone visiting Florence after reading "Dark Water" will find the city all the more precious and miraculous." -- Ross King, author of "Brunelleschi's Dome"""Dark Water" is not simply the best book yet about the flood that devastated Florence in November, 1966; it's a new kind of art history--one that reflects on the transformation of a real Italian city (Firenze) into an imaginary city that's become almost a museum of itself (Florence)." - Robert Hellenga, author of "The Sixteen Pleasures " Praise for "Dark Water" "Robert Clark has written a miraculous book, a passionate inquiry into the spirit that sustains the beauty of art and its more vexing sibling, religion. "Dark Water" is a mystery story and a memoir, set in a city of incomparable riches and dark fascinations. Clark's masterwork of quest literature deftly combines investigative journalism, meticulous history and, best of all, a cast of indelible characters whose lives move through Florence and its floods with novelistic power and suspense." --Patricia Hampl, author of "The Florist's Daughter" Robert Clark's "Dark Water" is not simply the best book yet about the flood that devastated Florence in November 1966, it's a new kind of art history--one that reflects on the transformation of a real Italian city (Firenze) into an imaginary city that's become almost a museum of itself (Florence). --Robert Hellenga, author of "The Sixteen Pleasures"