Many priceless masterpieces, including Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” and Michelangelo’s “Holy Family,” were preserved by shatterproof glass shields that had been installed only recently. Even so, the damage added up to millions of dollars and closed down one of the country’s leading tourist attractions at the start of the summer season. It also killed five people, including the caretaker of a medieval tower next to the Uffizi, her husband and their two small children. " There are bloodstains on the walls," said fireman Sandro Fantozzi, one of the first rescue workers to reach the tower. “You can’t even imagine how violent the explosion was.”
“It’s a car bomb,” civil-defense director Elveno Pastorelli quickly announced. In the hours following the explosion, there were no convincing assertions of responsibility (one right-wing group phoned in a claim that no one took seriously). But after an emergency meeting of Italy’s National Security Council, Interior Minister Nicola Mancino said flatly: “It is an act of mafia terrorism.” If so, it may have been the second in less than two weeks. In Rome on May 14, a bomb destroyed an apartment complex, injuring 23 people. Investigators believe the intended target was television talk-show host Maurizio Costanzo, an anti-mafia opinion maker, whose life was spared when he delayed for a few seconds entering the kill zone.
Suspects:Experts interpreted the explosions in Rome and Florence as an attempt by the mafia to serve notice on the Italian government, and on its own members, that it had not been crippled by the recent roundup of hundreds of alleged gangsters, including Salvatore (Toto) Riina, the reputed boss of all bosses. Almost two weeks ago the authorities arrested Riina’s purported second in command Benedetto (Nitto) Santapaola. “All the forces of the state will be mobilized to defeat a terrorism that acts so basely,” promised Prime MinisterCarlo Azeglio Ciampi. But the state itself had been weakened and distracted by a vast corruption scandal, leading to a referendum last April in which voters demanded a change in the way the country is run.
At the weekend, volunteers and professionals worked together amid the wreckage. The bomb, which may have weighed more than 200 pounds, gutted the medieval tower occupied by an archive containing thousands of ancient manuscripts and books on agriculture, most of which were destroyed. Some of the Uffizi’s galleries may be closed for months. The day after the explosion, more than 20,000 people marched through the city in mourning. “This indiscriminate killing is just as bad as Yugoslavia,” said one of them, high-school student Gianni Borselli. “I feel like I’m living in Sarajevo.” Even when the Uffizi reopens, Italians may never again feel secure in the enjoyment of their national legacy.
Uffizi Gallery: The explosion cracked the walls of the western gallery, the Vasari Corridor. It dismembered some statues, destroyed three paintings and damaged about 20 more.
Torre delle Pulci: A medieval tower housing an archive of agricultural documents blew up, killing the caretaker and her family.
Waterfront: Shops and restaurants along the Arno were heavily damaged.
Shatterproof shields saved major works of art including Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ and Michelangelo’s ‘Holy Family.’
