A long round of applause greeted Mattarella's entry into the Salone dei 500 where the "angels of the mud", but also mayors and representatives of the institutions, were also present. Before the ceremony, the mayor Sara Funaro gave the head of state a four-volume box set of "The Splendida History of Florence" by Piero Bargellini, mayor at the time of the flood, and grandfather of Funaro herself. Then some letters that arrived in Bargellini after the flood were read by some children from the city's primary schools.
"Sixty years have passed: Florence, city of art and beauty, cradle of the Renaissance, treasure of history, culture, spirituality, a beloved and admired destination on all continents: Florence, overwhelmed by the flood of the Arno. Bad weather and floods then hit vast territories of central and northern Italy. There were many victims, tens of thousands displaced, and the damage was enormous. Of that tragedy, Florence - with its history and its universal vocation - became the symbol, which the images of black and white TV brought into the homes of Italians and those of the whole world. Our memory moves from those who lost their lives and from the families who were torn apart in their affections", said Mattarella. "We remember, as the mayor Funaro did, those who lost their lives. The dead of the city, of the province of Florence, of Tuscany, of other regions. Soon the mud, the debris, the rubble became, in Florence, the heavy legacy of the millions of cubic meters of water leaking from the river. Despondency and distrust could have prevailed. Fear could have paralyzed every reaction. The organization could have civil, sinking into disorder due to inexperience in the face of calamities of such gigantic dimensions. This was not the case. Florence healed its wounds and returned to itself. Thanks to the love of the Florentines for their city, thanks to the courage of those who worked day and night despite the pain and uncertainty about the future, thanks to the civic sense of a community that knew how to recognize itself and work as a team, led by a mayor in love with his city like Piero Bargellini". Then a thought for the mud angels. "Florence rose again thanks to the help of the mud angels. Young people came from all over Italy and, as we heard again today, from all over the world. Young people driven by feelings of solidarity, by the need to feel fully part of the human community, by the desire to write their history and not simply to accept the inertia of events. The rescue and restart of Florence left a profound mark in the history of our Republic. A sign of unity and brotherhood, in a season in which the world was changing. Unity of the country in dealing with the emergency".
"Italy changed after the flood and that extraordinary movement of solidarity. The entire society received a new boost. We became aware of our vulnerability, of the necessary protection of the territories and of the fragile balance of the environment", continued Mattarella. "In Florence the alarm manifested itself in all its urgency. A society founded on the primacy of the person cannot fail to consider the protection of the environment and the safety of communities in the face of disasters as a common commitment. A challenge, but also a duty for the institutions".
The former mayor of the Tuscan capital, Matteo Renzi, also intervened. "There are still things to be done" but "in Florence with the measures of Italia Sicura the Arno is now essentially safe, that is, if a flood like the one in '66 came now it would not cause the same damage because there are systems that have made Florence safe, but the problem still concerns many other areas of our country". Thus the leader of Italia Viva, who spoke during the celebrations. According to Renzi, "the central point is that Italy needs, in my opinion, to equip itself with different infrastructures. We have proposed Mr Acqua, someone who takes care of the protection of the territory, of the management of hydrogeological risk. We cannot continue to have floods. In Florence we have made the Arno safe, this is a very important thing".
On the occasion of the event, words of sympathy also arrived from the president of Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Italy, Stefano Lucchini, from the honorary president, Kerry Kennedy and from the entire organization. "We are a reality that has its beating heart in the city of Florence, where we also have our House of Human Rights within the historic Walls. It is our intention to continue the fruitful synergy with the Municipal Administration, actively collaborating to promote civil commitment and human rights among the new generations", it was reported.
