“It was six in the morning on 4 November 1966 when my sister Fanny called me at home to say she was a virtual prisoner in her house because the Arno had burst its banks and Florence was flooded – a cathastrophe of apocalyptic proportions. I tried to calm her as best I could, then dressed and drove to Florence at once to see what I could do.
The flood was still in full spate when I arrived, with cars crashing down sidestreets and wave upon wave of water forcing its way over the barricades. I realized at once that it would be possible to film it, either as a record or more positively as a way of showing the outside world what was happening to the city so that we could raise
help.”
Franco Zeffirelli, Zeffirelli – An autobiography, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
