On November 4, 1966, Florence experienced the most devastating flood of its entire history. On that day, Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna, a twenty-six-year-old American artist living in Florence, went out into the flooded streets and photographed the dramatic unfolding events. Kraczyna was awarded the Fiorino d'Oro -the highest honor of the City of Florence - for ten of those photographs. This book presents, for the first time, Kraczyna's flood photographs in their entirety, taken on that tragic day and in the days that followed, as the city tried to deal with the immense disaster. Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna is an internationally known artist, who has had 128 one-man exhibitions in five continents, and whose work is also preserved in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. He was the technical assistant to Marino Marini for all of his color etchings, and has himself become a leading artist in this field. This publication heralds the launch of the new SUF book series, entitled "Villa Rossa Series: Intercultural Perspectives on Italy and Europe", which will highlight the artistic achievements and intellectual discoveries of the SUF faculty and professional staff, whose work explores the experience and historical dimensions of cultural interchange.