National Christopher Columbus Association, Inc.

10/17/2025

10/17/2025

This year's National Columbus Day Ceremony had to be moved indoors, but the wreaths have now been placed around the beautiful Columbus statue Courtyard at Holy Rosary Parish. Thank you to the many organizations that presented wreaths.

10/14/2025

10/13/2025

𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 Columbus Day arrived as a benign celebration of exploration, but its origin in the USA is more fraught.

In 1891, a mob in New Orleans brutally lynched 11 Italian immigrants in one of the largest mass lynchings in U.S. history, fueled by xenophobia and anti-Italian sentiment.

The backlash from Italian-American communities and diplomatic outrage with Italy put pressure on US politicians.

In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed a national celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage, in part to placate Italian-Americans and rehabilitate their image amid widespread prejudice.

Over time, that celebration evolved into Columbus Day as a federal observance.

The holiday’s origin was never truly about honoring Columbus. It was about protecting Italian immigrants from violence and prejudice, offering them a sense of dignity in a hostile America.

The irony, of course, is that the man chosen to symbolize safety from violence was himself a figure marked by conquest, enslavement, and dispossession of Indigenous peoples.

In trying to defend one community from hatred, America enshrined another man’s cruelty.

So if we want to celebrate Italian-American heritage, we can choose many more fitting heroes than Columbus. Figures from science, literature, civil rights, politics, and local community leadership offer richer and more just legacies.

One especially interesting Italian figure in America’s founding era is Filippo Mazzei, a Tuscan physician, wine grower, diplomat, and close friend of Thomas Jefferson.

Mazzei was a vocal proponent of liberty, equality, and republican government.

Some historians (and even a 1994 U.S. congressional joint resolution) credit Mazzei with influencing Jefferson’s phrase “all men are created equal.”

In 1773, Mazzei landed in Virginia with olive trees, grapevines, and Enlightenment ideals in tow.

He settled near Monticello, where he quickly befriended Thomas Jefferson. The two became intellectual companions, discussing liberty, natural rights, and the moral equality of all human beings over candlelit dinners in Jefferson’s study.

Mazzei wrote passionately that, “Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti."

𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵.

Those words appeared in his 1774 essay on human liberty, and many historians believe they helped shape Jefferson’s immortal phrase in the Declaration of Independence:

“All men are created equal.”

But Mazzei didn’t stop at philosophy.

During the American Revolution, he returned to Europe as a secret agent and fundraiser for Virginia, working to secure loans, weapons, and diplomatic support from France and Italy.

He even corresponded with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, spreading revolutionary ideas across the courts of Europe.

While Mazzei did not write the Declaration of Independence, his ideas fed into the intellectual ecosystem from which Jefferson drew.

If we’re going to honor Italian-American heritage, let’s raise a glass not to Columbus, but to Filippo Mazzei, the Italian who helped America find its founding ideals.

10/13/2025

This is why Italian Americans observe Columbus Day. 🇮🇹🇺🇸 Read on: https://bit.ly/3KFA0Kv

10/13/2025

On this date in history (October 12, 1492), after 33 long days at sea, Christopher Columbus and his crew finally spotted land, an event that would alter the course of human history forever. 🗺️

Columbus was convinced he had found a new westward route to Asia, not a New World entirely.

He and his men made landfall on an island in what we now know as the Bahamas. Columbus named the island San Salvador, which means 'Holy Savior.'

Acting on behalf of the Spanish crown, he claimed the island for Spain, planting the royal flag in the sand. 🙏

He encountered the native people of the island, whom he called 'Indians,' based on his mistaken belief that he had arrived in the East Indies.

This first encounter marked the beginning of sustained contact between the people of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Centuries of exploration, settlement, and profound global change would follow this monumental day.

In the United States, the first celebration of this voyage took place in New York City on October 12, 1792, to mark the 300th anniversary of this historic landing.

Sources: Historical archives, Journals of Christopher Columbus

10/13/2025

Happy Columbus Day!

10/10/2025

Genoa celebrates Columbus Day with the 34th edition of “The cloisters of Columbus’s time”

Once again this year, the city of Genoa is celebrating Columbus Day, honoring the most famous Genoese in history. On Sunday, October 12, the city will host the 34th edition of I Chiostri del Tempo di Colombo (The Cloisters of Columbus’s Time), organized by the National Committee dedicated to the great explorer. I Chiostri del Tempo di Colombo offers “a journey through the ancient cloisters to rediscover the 15th-century Genoa where Columbus spent his youth.”

https://www.wetheitalians.com/news/genoa-celebrates-columbus-day-with-the-34th-edition-of-the-cloisters-of-columbuss-time

10/09/2025

Thank you Pittsburgh for continuing to honor the Columbus Day celebration with a parade!

Bloomfield, Pittsburgh’s historic Italian American neighborhood, will once again host the city’s 38th annual Columbus Day Parade — sponsored by Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) — on Saturday, October 11, at 11 a.m. The 2025 Pittsburgh Columbus Day Parade will feature more than 10...

10/08/2025

The NCCA invites all to this wonderful Columbus Day event on Sunday sponsored by the Italian American Museum of Washington DC. On Monday the National Columbus Day Ceremony will also be held at Holy Rosary beginning at 11am. Ceremony moved to this location due to government shutdown.

Don't miss the annual Columbus Day Civil Ceremony, with remarks from leaders of our Washington, D.C. area Italian and Italian American community.

Sunday Oct. 12 at 11:30 am - Holy Rosary Church's Piazza Italiana.