Blauvelt Sons of Italy / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // After the years-long work of several Italian Americans, a 99-year-old historic bronze statue of Christopher Columbus, once cast in a river by rioters, again stands tall.
The larger-than-life statue, weighing in at about a ton, depicts the legendary Italian explorer striking a stoic pose with one hand on his chest and the other holding a scroll.
Following its remarkable restoration and a blessing from a local Catholic priest, the statue now graces the property of Blauvelt Sons of Italy Lodge 2176 (“Rockland Lodge”) in Blauvelt, New York.
Rockland Lodge President Mike Pizzi told CatholicVote that the statue was originally erected during the 1920s by the Italian-American community in Richmond, Virginia – where it remained for about a century.
During the riots of mid-2020, however, the historic Virginia statue was “vandalized, it was desecrated, it was ripped down and thrown into a river,” he said. “It sat in the river for two years.”
The Italian-American Cultural Association of Virginia (IACAVA) fought the Richmond city government for custody of the statue “so that they could take ownership of it, and get it out of the river, and then restore it,” Pizzi said.
It was a “considerable effort,” he said, adding that the statue’s restoration cost IACAVA an estimated $7,000.
The Columbus statue eventually made its way to a farm warehouse, but its restorers did not think it was right for it to be permanently “exiled” there, recounted Pizzi.
Then, an IACAVA member was referred by a friend in New York to Rockland Lodge, “through a matter of weird coincidences and circumstances,” Pizzi continued. “At one point, five representatives of IACAVA came up to scope us out.”
“As soon as they came, we hit it off with each other and they felt immediately that this was the right place for them, and for us, to find a home for Christopher Columbus,” Pizzi said. “That was probably about a year ago.”
Eventually, the statue was shipped to and placed on the Rockland Lodge’s property.
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This past weekend, the Lodge held a ceremony rededicating the statue. The entire Lodge was “extremely proud” of the monument, Pizzi said.
During the ceremony, Fr. Joe Pavone of St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish in Wyckoff, New Jersey, blessed the statue.
“It’s my honor to be here today to honor Christopher Columbus and this beautiful statue, especially in a time when so many are trying to rewrite history,” the recently-ordained priest said. “We can remember Columbus for the brave, courageous figure he was, who in many ways is responsible for bringing our faith to the New World.”
Pizzi said that over a hundred people braved rainy weather to be present at the rededication. In attendance was U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-NY, and New York state Sen. Bill Weber, R-Montebello. Lawler is an Italian American and a member of Rockland Lodge.
In a post to Instagram this week, Lawler said that he was “proud” to speak at the ceremony.
“Columbus Day has been a symbol of how Italian Americans have contributed to this nation and a reminder of the persecution they faced after immigrating to the United States,” the federal lawmaker wrote in his post.
Pizzi noted: “The past couple of years have been pretty crazy for the whole country. With what’s being erased, what’s being taken away from people.”
“And Italian Americans aren’t about taking away from anybody but we are proud of our heritage, of what we contributed,” Pizzi said. “We’re hardworking people, we put our noses to the grindstone and we go at it.”
“This was just a way of us showing, ‘Look, this is what we can do,’” he explained. “We’re going to keep what we have and we’re going to be proud of it, and we’re not hiding.”
Columbus, who hailed from the northern Italian port city of Genoa, is most famous for his 1492 voyage to the Caribbean that ignited the Age of Exploration – culminating in the eventual founding of the colonies that became the United States.
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Pizzi thanked his fellow Lodge brothers for their hard work in making the rededication possible: “I can’t say how proud I am of our membership.”
The Lodge president remarked that just days after it was rededicated, the statue already looks at home on the Lodge’s grounds. “He looks like he was born there, it’s pretty cool,” Pizzi said of the statue.
Rockland Lodge is affiliated with the Order Sons of Italy in America. The Sons of Italy is a philanthropic organization that gives out scholarships, performs local community outreach, and promotes its members’ shared Italian heritage.
Readers can find a video of the rededication ceremony here.
