The 20-foot, 6,000-pound Columbus statue stands in Portman Plaza, in front of Columbus City Hall, circa 2016. The statue was uprooted by city leaders in 2020 and is now stowed away, out of public view. The “Reimagining Columbus” initiative is tasked with finding a new space for the historic statue from Genoa, Italy.

By Richard Leto, La Nostra Voce

As a third-generation Italian American growing up in the Little Italy neighborhood of South Philadelphia, I fondly remember learning about my immigrant grandparents. They immersed themselves in Italian opera and took great pride in the history and masterpieces of renowned Italian artisans and sculptors. Our home, like many in the neighborhood, was adorned with grotto-like garden shrines or furniture topped with cherished Italian statuary and figurines — a tangible connection to our heritage.

Last year, I had the privilege of viewing the historic works of sculptor Edoardo Alfieri (1913–1998) at an exhibition hosted by the Columbus Historical Society (CHS) in Ohio’s capital. Alfieri is renowned for his creation of the monumental bronze statue of Christopher Columbus, which stood prominently in front of Columbus City Hall for 65 years, from 1955 until its removal in 2020.

This article will appear in the January 2025 edition of La Nostra Voce, ISDA’s monthly newspaper that chronicles Italian American news, history, culture and traditions. Subscribe today!

The 20-foot, 3-ton statue was a gift from the citizens of Genoa to the people of Columbus, Ohio, symbolizing the bond between the two cities. It was cast at the Michelucci Foundry in Pistoia, Italy, and dedicated on October 12, 1955, in front of 100,000 people by then-Mayor Maynard E. Sensenbrenner as part of the city’s Columbus Day celebration. Published news accounts stated the bronze statue was transported from Italy to America via the Italian ocean liner “Cristoforo Colombo.”

In May of 2020, civil unrest broke out in downtown Columbus three days after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Storefronts were damaged and destroyed and windows were smashed at the Ohio Statehouse. A month later, Mayor Andrew Ginther ordered the removal of the statue from Portman Plaza, outside Columbus City Hall.

The statue was placed in storage, removed from public view, with officials stating it will never again be displayed in front of Columbus City Hall. In 2023, supported by The Monuments Project of the Mellon Foundation, the “Reimagining Columbus” initiative was launched to identify a new location for the historic statue. This two-year initiative is set to run through June 2025. Notably, a Christopher Columbus statue still stands on the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse, highlighting a distinct separation between Ohio’s state government and the municipal government of Columbus, Ohio.

Recently, the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department was sued by an Italian American who says the city demonstrated undue bias when it renamed Columbus Square to Warren Square in 2022. The lawsuit contends that the change violates city rules and taps into an undercurrent of intolerance toward Italian American iconography.

According to the Parks and Recreation Department’s naming guidelines, a park can only be renamed if the person it is named after “comes into disrepute in relation to the community at large.”

The plaintiff in this lawsuit argues Christopher Columbus does not fall into these restrictions.

Stay tuned.

For more on the topic, read ISDA National President Basil Russo’s letter to the editor, published in The Columbus Dispatch on Oct. 11, 2024.