Traffic at a standstill, roads diverted and security men ready to help visitors and residents lost in the unusual hustle and bustle of Lower Manhattan, a neighborhood famous for its proximity to the Financial District of the Big Apple and for hosting Battery Park, considered one of the most beautiful parks in the metropolis (after Central Park) for its strategic position, on the southern tip of the island, which directly overlooks the sea: a privileged spot from which to enjoy a spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty.
But this morning it was the corner of Battery Park where it stands majestically that was extremely crowded statue of Giovanni da Verrazzano: his largest bronze bust, modeled in the early 1900s by the sculptor Ettore Ximenes and placed on an elaborate granite pedestal with lateral volutes. On the facade stands the sculpture of a female figure, an allegory of discovery and exploration: the two goals of life for Giovanni Da Verrazzano, a Florentine navigator who was the first 500 years ago on April 17, he sailed up New York Bay on his ship, sighting Staten Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan before continuing along other new lands on the Atlantic Ocean, up to Maine.
The statue was dedicated to him in 1921 but today, at his feet, the highest institutions in Italy, New York and the Tuscany region have gathered. With the governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul and the mayor of the metropolis, Eric Adamsamong others, the vice president of the Chamber participated in the celebrations Giorgio Mulé (FI), the consuls of Italy and France in New York, Fabrizio di Michele and Cedrik Fouriscot, Susan Donoghuecommissioner of New York parks, the governor of the Tuscany region Eugenio Giani, and Massimo Panizzi, commander of the Military Geographic Institute (IGM).
A parterre that New York dedicates only to major events. In this case, the memorable anniversary of a great character: the Florentine navigator and explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano who, exactly 500 years ago, on board the sailing ship Dauphine, flying the French flag, sailed – the first European in history – the seas of New York Bay .
The leaders of the main Italian American organizations – the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and the Italian American Leadership Forum (IALF) – also remembered his courageous undertaking, having actively collaborated in the series of commemorative events that will take place today and tomorrow. Because the five hundredth anniversary of Verrazzano, the speakers underlined, offers Italian-Americans and those who know the history of the famous explorer, “a great opportunity to remember both the event and the ‘Spirit of Discovery’ and its importance”.
The vice-president of the Chamber Mullé is of the same opinion and, responding to AGI, highlighted how Da Verrazzano is first and foremost a great humanist and a great Italian: “a character – he stated – who has nothing to envy of Christopher Columbus, Caboto or Vespucci”.
In his opinion, the emphasis given to this anniversary today is right because “5 centuries later – continued Mulé – we still remember how his feat managed to concretely connect two worlds, Europe and America, and to change the history of humanity by opening the doors of the world to the greatest laboratory of civilization, to which Italians and Italian Americans continue to make fundamental contributions”.
In New York, with the vice president of the Chamber, several representatives of Italian Regions and Cities who were traveling overseas arrived: in addition to the President of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani, the governor of Friuli Venezia Giulia will be present at the commemorative events today and tomorrow ( region guest of honor of the Niaf Gala 2024) Massimiliano Fedriga and the Mayor of Palermo, Roberto Lagalla, in New York to promote the new direct air connection with the Island but above all the 400 years of the Patron Saint of Palermo, Santa Rosalia, equally revered in the Big Apple.