Prada-Backed Restoration Project Sees Vasari Painting Returned to Florence Museum

When a flood on November 4, 1966 flooded the rooms of the Museum of Opera di Santa Croce in Florence, most people though the Last Supper, a masterpiece from Italian painted Giorgio Vasari was lost forever. Ruined from floodwater and mud, the painting was stored in a warehouse for 40 years until 10 years ago, when Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a public institution in Florence dedicated to cultural heritage, worked with Prada, Getty Foundation and Protezione Civile to restore the painting.

Now, fifty years later, on the symbolic date of November 4, the newly restored work has been returned to Santa Croce. The feat is made possible from the unified cooperation and virtuous art patronage of Prada, who supported the restoration of the painting; Getty Foudation for the wooden support and Protezione Civile, who provided the initial inspection and analysis of the damaged work.

The painting is one of Vasari’s most important works, painted in 1546 for the refectory of the Murate, a monastery of cloistered Benedictine nuns in what is now Via Ghibellina. The painting was moved several times before settling in the convent’s former refectory in 1880s when it was turned into a museum.