Art: Florentine Tempest

The huge bell atop Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio pealed tumultuously one night last week, sending cheering Florentines into the streets to celebrate a victory over Roman bureaucracy and a triumph for local art and tourism. The Italian government, which had assembled 33 Italian masterpieces* for a good-will tour of Washington’s National Gallery and Manhattan’s Metropolitan Museum, had bowed to the storm of protest from Italians who wanted their treasures kept right at home, suspended plans to send the show abroad until scientific tests could be made to guarantee that no harm would come to the traveling masterpieces.

The Florentine tempest began blowing up when Italian newspapers, with the sinking of the Andrea Doria fresh in mind, pointed out in alarm that Florence’s treasures would be shipped to the U.S. aboard a U.S. Navy transport. Additional qualms were quickly forthcoming. Asked Corriere delta Sera: “Who knows what effect the humidity may have on these paintings, and the packing, the unpacking, the vibrations on shipboard, the handling in America—all grave dangers?”

Florentine artists and students took the protest into the streets and the Italian press, from Communist left to Fascist right, whooped to their support. The climax came when four artists barricaded themselves in the bare cell atop Florence’s 280-ft.-tall Tower of Arnulfo, announced that they would not come down until the government surrendered.

Completely lost in all the din was the fact that the same arguments could as logically be directed against any international art show, including Italy’s own famed Venice Biennale. Italy’s Education Minister Paolo Rossi, reluctantly announcing the government’s decision, added another reminder. Said he: “When a ship leaves Naples with a precious cargo of masterpieces, you Senators must think of the thousands of American ships that crossed the ocean in the opposite direction, bringing us help of all kinds in the most trying period of our history.”

*Among them: Raphael’s Madonna of the Chair, Fra Angelico’s Marriage of the Virgin, sculptures by Donatello, Cellini and Michelangelo, all from Florence’s museums.