FLORENCE, Italy (AP) – A Renaissance painting that was badly damaged in a 1966 flood in Florence will be unveiled to the public after years of painstaking restoration.
Giorgio Vasari painted “The Last Supper” in the 16th century on five large wood panels that together measure 6.6 by 2.6 meters (21.7 by 8.5 feet). The work was among thousands that were badly damaged and covered in mud when the Arno river broke its banks.
It will be unveiled Friday as part of a commemorative ceremony on the 50th anniversary of the disaster, in which about 100 people died. At the time, a corps of global volunteers dubbed the “angels of the mud” rescued countless artworks but thousands of paintings, rare books and other works were destroyed or damaged.