The latest episode of “Nuova York: Hidden in Plain Sight”, which is the sixth in the series, tells the story of Giuseppe Verdi, the great Italian opera composer, and his statue in Piazza Verdi (Verdi Square) in Manhattan. Stefano Albertini from NYU, recounts Verdi’s story and talks about his legacy – not just the musical one – and the beauty of Piazza Verdi’s garden, which the composer himself, a farmer at heart, would have greatly appreciated.
The statue is located in a park bounded by 72nd Street on the south, 73rd Street on the north, Broadway on the west, and Amsterdam Avenue on the east.
Giuseppe Verdi never set foot in the US but he was already very popular here during his lifetime.
Discover more about the composer of Aida, La Traviata, Otello, and Rigoletto, among other operas, and the Verdi Monument in the Upper West Side, created by Sicilian sculptor Pasquale Civiletti (1858–1952) in 1906, just five years after Verdi’s death. Made of Carrara marble and Montechiaro limestone, the monument stands out against Verdi Square, designated in 1974 a Scenic Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, one of only eight public parks to receive this distinction. It is one of the “Barsotti’s Five” that the banker financed by raising money from the Italian community: five statues of notable Italians to mark the Italian presence in the city. The others are Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Christopher Columbus and Dante Alighieri.
But in the end, Albertini says, the truest monument to Verdi’s art is a few blocks away at Lincoln Center, where his masterpieces still form a considerable part of every Metropolitan Opera House’s season.
Brought to life by Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, ‘Nuova York: Hidden in Plain Sight’ is on a mission to uncover and showcase the tangible traces of the Italian presence in New York City, which boasts the largest Italian-American population in North America and ranks as the third-largest Italian population outside of Italy itself. Each episode of this series shines a spotlight on something special – be it a monument, a church, a store, a building, or even a street, answering those fundamental questions: when was it established, by whom, and why?
Videography by
Eugenio Pizzorno
Motion Design
Dan Arnklit
