Florence in the 20th Century
At the start of the 20th century the population was approximately 200,000.
Though Italy was engaged in World War I, Florence remained placid; art historians
pursued their work and refugees sought shelter in the city. Though the city
was not damaged during the war, Florence entered a recession in the war's
aftermath.
In 1919, crowds gathered to welcome the leader of a new political party
that had declared war on socialism; this leader was 36 year old Benito Mussolini.
In 1919 and 1920 the city had few fascists, but after a general strike in
1922 Mussolini seized his opportunity to take control of the state, and
the popularity of fascism grew in the 1920s. In 1938, Mussolini came to
Florence with Hitler and was met by "the Florentine's wellp;developed
taste for the flamboyant choreographic techniques and the medieval trappings
of Fascism (Hibbert 285p;293).
Mussolini declared war in 1940, and the city of Florence prepared by covering
and padding statues, works of art were removed from museum and gallery walls
to safety. The city was bombed heavily in 1944; all the city's bridges were
destroyed except the Ponte Vecchio, the approaches to which were blocked
by piles of debris from the mining of buildings, and many statues were blown
up. After the war food was in short supply and housing was difficult to
come by. But, gradually Florence was rebuilt; the bridges were rebuilt,
art was replaced and the scaffolding was removed from landmarks.
In November 1966 disaster again struck the city; the Arno flooded the city.
The flood wrecked 15,000 cars, put 6000 shops out of business, and left
14,000 families homeless. Much of Florence's art was also damaged. But,
again the city was rebuilt, and by the 1970s few effects of the flood could
be seen. In 1971 five million tourists came to the once again prosperous
city which had a thriving textile industry and numerous fashion houses and
manufacturers of leather goods (Hibbert 305-312).
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