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The 20th century was in many ways disastrous for Florence. WWI left it spent, shocked, and vulnerable to Fascist rhetoric. The city was one of Mussolini's most faithful strongholds. Florence was badly damaged during WWII by the retreating Germans, who blew up all its bridges except the Ponte Vecchio. Devastating floods ravaged the city in 1966, causing inestimable damage to its building and artworks, some of which are still being restored. One good thing to come of the disaster, which left the city covered in a mantle of slimy mud and left countless families homeless, was the evolution of modern restoration techniques. The salvage operation led to the refining of methods which have since saved artworks throughout the world.
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Western Europe
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