ITALIAN VERSION Last week there was a disaster in the Cinque Terre. Mudslides and floods devastated the fishing villages situated along the rocky Ligurian coastline. For a few days the sun came out and the cleanup was begun. However the rain was not done. This week the skies opened again and another deluge fell upon Genova, located a little farther north of the Cinque Terre, causing more flooding and new devastation. There are no words to describe this new tragedy. It is sufficient just to look at the photos and the video. It seems that history is repeating not only the events of last week but also another disaster that occurred in Florence in the 1960s. Forty years ago this month the Arno river in Florence flooded its banks devastating the city and its art.
If you would like to contribute aid to help the flood victims of Liguria and Genoa I suggest you contact the Italian Red Cross. The site is in English where it is possible to donate with a credit card. When you go to the site, make sure that on the drop down menu, you select EMERGENCY TUSCANY AND LIGURIA. If you are donating from a foreign country, leave the ‘state’ field — and the ‘nation’ field will be written in Italian. If you are from the US, the nation will be ‘Stati Uniti’. IF you have problems with the zip code fields, try 00000. I encourage all of you to give what you can, large or small, to help rebuild the towns that have been hit so hard in Liguria and Tuscany.
