“Hidden in Plain Sight” this week focuses on Dante Alighieri’s statue in Dante Park, at the corner between Broadway and West 63rd Street, in front of Lincoln Center. Sculpted by Ettore Ximenes and dedicated on September 14, 1921, it is one of the “Barsotti’s Five” that the banker Carlo Barsotti 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 Giuseppe Verdi.
The much grander original project had to be scaled down. This episode of “Hidden in Plain Sight” is hosted by Stefano Albertini from NYU, telling the story of the statue and of Dante Alighieri himself, the author of the Divine Comedy, considered the father of Italian poetry and of the Italian language itself. Albertini also tells the story of Dante the migrant, who as an exile, was forced to wander around looking for refuge, which may resonate with Italians abroad.
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
