Emilia-Romagna flooding, first damage to museums, churches and cultural heritage recorded

The damage to cultural heritage is beginning to be counted after theflood that hitEmilia Romagna in recent hours, causing, to date, 13 deaths, and billions in damage to businesses and individuals. However, the situation, the Regional Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture for Emilia-Romagna has let us know, “is not yet stabilized and it is not possible to make a survey of the possible damage suffered by the cultural heritage.” However, we are informed that “the Crisis Unit-Regional Coordination for Emilia-Romagna of the Ministry of Culture (Uccr), was already operational immediately after the spread of the red alert issued by the Civil Protection. While waiting for the authorization to operate in the territory, the Uccr is collecting the first reports and planning how to intervene in order to be ready for the necessary interventions.”

However, through social media comes the first news about the damage suffered by the cultural heritage. The Carlo Zauli Museum in Faenza has been hard hit, where the situation is said to be dramatic by those on the ground: on its Facebook page, the museum posted a video showing the mud that has invaded the courtyard and kiln room of what was once the workshop of the great master of ceramics. The equipment that belonged to Carlo Zauli was displaced by the force of the water, the same goes for the works. Water also invaded the cellars, where works, documents and clays are stored. “The historical memory of this place is being lost,” director Matteo Zauli told Faenza’s Il Piccolo newspaper, “but until the water has receded we don’t actually know what the situation is.”

Another hard-hit museum is the Guerrino Tramonti Museum in Faenza, where water and mud have invaded the ceramics rooms. “The density of the mud, paradoxically, has limited the damage from the fall of the ceramics,” regional culture councillor Mauro Felicori noted. Several works were hospitalized at the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, which, however, suffered no damage. Also in Faenza, flooding is reported inside the church of San Francesco: damage to the wooden choir and an altarpiece is reported. Damage also at the Manfrediana Library, where the institute itself reports more than a meter of water in the children’s room and literature section: many books ended up in the mud.

In Cesena, part of the walls of theSanta Maria del Monte Abbey collapsed as a result of the rains that poured down on the city yesterday. “The ground and part of the abbey,” said Cesena’s councillor for culture and inclusion, Carlo Verona, “are unfortunately affected by subsidence that is producing very visible damage on the building such that a substantial part of the abbey is unusable.” Regional councillor Felicori also reports damage to cinemas: “In Romagna serious damage is also being done to some cinemas. In Cesena, the Eliseo Multisala is closed and has had water infiltration from the roof and in the pump room and continuous voltage drops. In Santarcangelo, the Supercinema had serious damage with breakthrough of ceiling plasterboard in screening rooms and damage to seats, carpeting and stage, flooding of the basement warehouse. Giometti multiplexes in Rimini and Riccione had fortunately controllable water seepage in some rooms and common areas. Serious damage at Settebello and Fulgor in Rimini.”

In Castel Bolognese, water invaded the 18th-century parish of San Petronio, which has already been hit by two floods in the past (in 1959 and 1966). Unknown at the moment is the extent of the damage sustained. The situation in Lugo, one of the hardest hit towns, is also critical: the two symbolic monuments of the historic center, the Rocca and the Pavaglione, where the water has not yet drained away, ended up under water.

The Emilia-Romagna Region has activated a fundraiser to support people and communities affected by the floods and landslides resulting from the extreme weather events that occurred in May 2023. Anyone can pay by using the bank details of the current account in the name of the Emilia-Romagna Agency for Territorial Security and Civil Protection: Iban: IT69G0200802435000104428964; Reason: “Flood Emilia-Romagna”; For payments from abroad, the Bic Swift code is: UNCRITM1OM0. Each euro collected and its use will be publicly accounted for, as has been done for previous fundraisers (post-earthquake reconstruction, Covid emergency, Ukraine emergency).

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Emilia-Romagna flooding, first damage to museums, churches and cultural heritage recorded

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