Frederick Hartt was an officer in the Monuments' Men during WWII.
The Monuments' Men were members of the Division of Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Division of the US Army in WWII.
These men, most of whom had backgrounds in art history as museum curators, professors, and experts in art and architecture,
knew which monuments, museums, churches, and sites were of great importance in the history of Western Europe.
They have been credited with saving thousands of priceless works of art and architecture that would have been lost forever.

Frederick Hartt 's expertise was in the art and architecture in the Tuscan area of Florence, Pisa and Siena,
where he saw to the rescue and shoring up of many monuments that had been damaged during the bombings of WWII.
After the great Florence flood of November 4, 1966, Hartt was also instrumental in the rescue of many works of art
that were damaged during the flood.
Beacuse of his love for Florence, and his service throughout WWII, and following the 1966 flood,
he was honored by the Commune of Florence with a memorial to his service.
Hartt's remains are buried at San Miniato. and the memorial to his service can be seen in the next image.

Since I taught Italian Renaisance Art History, and since Hattt wrote the quintessential text used in this course by most
teachers of art history, I wanted to see for myself, the monument to this great man.
It will always be a treasured memory of this trip.