Hungarian by birth, European by experience, American by adoption, Balthazar Korab was trained as an architect in Budapest, graduating from the Paris Beaux Arts. He worked journeyman style in a number of countries, with Le Corbusier, Eero Saarinen and others. His interest in photography grew to fulltime activity in the United States. Obtaining the highest awards in a few years, he published and exhibited widely as a photographer of architecture. Arriving in Florence with his wife and two children for a quiet sabbatical in October of 1966, his plans soon were upset by the memorable flood. The neighboring garden of the Villa Gamberaia offered an isle of serenity in the midst of a city in a state of siege. The pictures in this book were taken during those difficult days.