Storm forces closure of Florence museums for damage checks

FLORENCE: Florence officials ordered the closure of many of the Tuscan city's museums on Friday, including the famed Uffizi Gallery, while technicians checked for damage after a particularly violent storm.

The museums house some of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance and the Uffizi is home to masterpieces by Fra Angelico, Boticelli, Raphael and others.

Streets, cellars and ground floors of buildings in the city centre were flooded by the storm that felled trees in several parts of the city, but there were no immediate reports of damage to the museums or to the works of art inside them.

Several stained glass windows in churches were slightly damaged and officials said water got into the Renaissance-era Palazzo Vecchio, which serves as both a museum and as Florence's town hall.