History of Florence - 20th Century

20th Century

In the 19th century the population of Florence doubled, and tripled in the 20th century with the growth of tourism, trade, financial services and the industry. A foreign community came to represent one-quarter of the population in the second half of the 19th century and this period was the romantic vision of the towns captured by writers such as James Irving and pre-Raphaelite artists and that he left bequeath to the numerous city villas of mainly English barons with their eclectic collections of art, which today are museums, Museum Horne, the Stibbert Museum, Villa La Pietra, etc.

During World War II the city experienced a year-long German occupation (1943–1944). On September 25, 1943, allied bombers targeted central Florence, destroying many buildings and killing 215 civilians.

During the German retreat, Florence was declared an "open city", thereby avoiding major war damage. Shortly before leaving Florence, as they knew that they would soon have to retreat the Germans murdered many freedom fighters and political opponents publicly, in streets and squares including Piazza Santo Spirito. In 1944, the retreating Germans decided to blow up the bridges along the Arno linking the district of Oltrarno to the rest of the city, thus making it difficult for the British troops to cross. However, at the last moment Hitler ordered that the Ponte Vecchio must not be blown up, as it was too beautiful. Instead an equally historic area of streets directly to the south of the bridge, including part of the Corridoio Vasariano, was destroyed using mines. Since then the bridges have been restored exactly to their original forms using as many of the remaining materials as possible, but the buildings surrounding the Ponte Vecchio have been rebuilt in a style combining the old with modern design. The Allied soldiers who died driving the Germans from Tuscany are buried in cemeteries outside the city: Americans about 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) south of the city, British and Commonwealth soldiers a few kilometers east of the center on the north bank of the Arno ).

On November 4, 1966 the Arno flooded parts of the centre, killing at least 40 and damaging millions of art treasures and rare books. There was no warning from the authorities who knew the flood was coming, except a phone call to the jewellers on the Ponte Vecchio. Volunteers from around the world came to help rescue the books and art, and the effort inspired multiple new methods of art conservation. Forty years later, there are still works awaiting restoration.

On 28 May 1993, a powerful car bomb exploded in the via de Georgofili, behind the Uffizi killing five people, injuring numerous others and seriously damaging the Torre dei Pulci, the museum and parts of its collection. The blast has been attributed to the Mafia.