By Karen M. Greenwald
Award-winning author Karen M. Greenwald’s books include The Mud Angels: How Students Saved the City of Florence, and the Kansas 2022 Notable Book, A Vote for Susanna, The First Woman Mayor.
Imagine studying Italian in a college program in Firenze! One week it’s gelato, the Uffizi, and San Lorenzo Market. The next? “La Bella” is covered in tons of oily, stinky, debris-filled mud. Danger surrounds the city. What do you do?
In 1966, when the Arno flood’s aftermath put Florence in peril, international students studying there ignored barriers to help. Thousands followed. These unexpected heroes became known as, “Angeli del Fango” or “Mud Angels.” After lengthy interviews with 16 Florida State University alumni who were among the first in the mud, I now call them “friends.”
Many examples of Mud Angel selflessness exist, but what happened at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF) captivated me. Centuries-old treasures waded close to destruction in the library’s stench-ridden, water and mud filled basement. Students submerged themselves for endless hours each day—initially without protective gear—searching. Many female students only had skirts, thanks to 1960’s dress codes.
Why would foreigners endure these unpleasant, unsafe challenges for a heritage not necessarily their own? Most American Mud Angels I interviewed participated at the BNCF. Their answer? Losing any Italian antiquity felt personal, because “[o]nce in the mud, we were all Italian!”
After two years of researching and writing my picture book, THE MUD ANGELS: HOW STUDENTS SAVED THE CITY OF FLORENCE, I feel a closeness to Firenze and passion for my Italian language course. I’m honored to share this surprising story of young people from around the world working side-by-side to preserve Italian cultural treasures!
During the week of July 31 to August 4, I attended the Free Enterprise Leadership Conference. This experience was entirely virtual, which allowed me to participate all the way from Italy. I learned so much during this conference, both through guest speakers and through hands-on activities. During the conference, the students were split up into teams 6-10 people, with each group having a counselor to guide us through the activities. Each team created a company from scratch, going from electing a board of directors, to creating a business plan, to presenting our products to “investors” (the staff of the company). FELC not only taught me about what it really takes to build a business, but also about how to be an effective leader, how to work in a team, and about how the free enterprise system can reduce poverty. The conference was so much fun, and it was a great opportunity for me to see if business and economics could be one of my career aspirations, as I didn’t have much prior experience. The week was very well balanced between hands-on activities, student presentations, and professional guest speakers. One thing that I especially appreciated was that each student was able to play to their strengths, with some members of the team giving speeches, others in charge of debates, and others preparing visual presentations. Thank you to ILF for providing me with such an amazing growth opportunity.
