Record Rainfall Causes Damage at the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Pitti in Florence
Nearly two inches of rain fell in about an hour in Florence, Italy, causing flooding and leaks at the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Pitti, Euro News reported. At the Uffizi, water leaked beneath a skylight in a room with seven 17th-century paintings, including Caravaggio’s Bacchus; the museum said the leak only splashed the outer glass of the protective case and that no artworks were damaged, though Corriere della Sera described the painting’s image as appearing blurred by water rivulets. The Uffizi, a mid-16th-century building commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici and designed by Giorgio Vasari, said the affected room would reopen to visitors the next morning. At Palazzo Pitti, flooding affected the Palatine Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art, leading to closures in some exhibition areas, and officials said it was unclear how water entered the palace.
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