The Florence flood of 1966: A report on the current state of preservation at the libraries and archives of Florence

Summary This article reports on the current state of preservation at the libraries in Florence, Italy. The article highlights the difficulties, both technical and administrative, involved in recovering from a disaster of the magnitude of the 1966 flood and chronicles the largely governmental and financial obstacles to the development of well integrated library preservation programmes in Italy. The results of recent visits to Rome and Florence are reported and reflect some encouraging steps being taken to address these issues.