For those who were born and lived in the United States, Christopher Columbus has never been a simple historical figure, a passage of a book of history and little more: the Genoese explorer, in fact, embodies a symbol for the Italian American communities, because it binds itself to the history of Italian immigrants who arrived between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, when being Italians in America often wanted to undergo discrimination, suspicion and violence. The Columbus Day, which became a federal holiday in 1937, was also this: a way to give the Italians of America a space within the American historical account, and therefore to say that they were also part of it.
In recent years, however, Colombo has also become one of the most divisive names of American historical memory. For a part of the country it continues to represent the arrival of Europeans in the New World and, for Italian Americans, a piece of its integration in the United States. On the other hand, it is a symbol of colonization, violence against native peoples and a story told for a long time only from the viewpoint of the winners. After the protests that broke out in 2020, when the figure of Columbus became the object of identification with colonialism and white supremycy, several statues of Columbus were removed, damaged or relocated.
Within this conflict, the Trump administration writes a new chapter, perhaps also of “reactivation” to the Italian American values, choosing to restore and restore the Columbus Fountain of Washington in front of Union Station. The monument was indeed in bad condition and did not work since 2007, the marble had lost its original color and the monument, built to remember the journey of Columbus in 1492, had become more a sign of degradation, but the gesture also brings with it a political value, aimed mainly to that part of America that sees in the removal of the monuments a cultural yield, and to a part of the Italian American community that continues to recognize itself in Colombo as a figure of pride and legitimacy. Trump, who has long used these themes to speak to his conservative electorate, thus presents restoration as the return of a symbol.
La fontana prima del restauro, nel 2018
The presentation of the restoration of the Commemorative Fountain of Cristoforo Colombo, in Columbus Circle, in front of the Union Station railway station in Washington DC. “We are back, Italians, we are back”, said Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, citing the words of President Donald Trump. Two members of the presidential cabinet, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, as well as Italian Ambassador Marco Peronaci, participated in the ceremony.
The restoration lasted six months and cost 12 million dollars. It was created by the National Park Service as part of the requalification interventions launched in view of the 250th anniversary of the United States, which will fall this year. The fountain was refurbished, the marble complex was cleaned and the area will be reopened to the public on May 29.
Burgum said that “the great nations build great works” and that the fountain, left for years in ruins, had ended up representing “the abandonment rather than inspiration”. Duffy spoke of Union Station as the “door of access” to the restored capital and fountain as a sign of the “American grandeur”.
For Italy and for a part of the Italian-American community, the restoration of the Columbus Fountain also has another meaning. Ambassador Marco Peronaci said that the message “Italians are back” should be read as a recognition of the contribution given by Italians and Italians to the construction of the United States, especially in the year when the country is preparing to celebrate its 250 years. Andrew Giuliani took the same point, explaining that for the White House Colombo also serves to bring attention to what Italians have done for America.
L’articolo Christopher Columbus returned to the center of Washington proviene da IlNewyorkese.
