Columbus honored as brave beacon of hope for Italian-Americans

On the north wall of Heinz Chapel in Oakland, Christopher Columbus keeps some impressive company.

He stands in a rowboat and wields a sword, the heroic image captured in a stained-glass image near the middle of a 73-foot-tall transept window. Next to him is Florence Nightingale. Nearby are more than a dozen other historical heavyweights known for courageous deeds, including the Virgin Mary, Joan of Arc and several saints.

That Columbus is honored alongside such icons surprises no one in the Italian-American community in Western Pennsylvania.

To them, he is a symbol of strength, vision and hope — and not just for ethnic Italians.

"Christopher Columbus had the courage to come to a new land, to risk everything and come to an area that was totally unknown," said Carla Lucente, honorary consul of Italy and co-director of Duquesne University's Center for International Relations.

"He opened the door to the New World, not only for Italians, but for everyone else — the Slovaks, the Germans, the Irish. He was the great discoverer."

As ethnic Italians today celebrate Columbus Day, commemorating the famous seaman from Genoa, many are reflecting on his legacy.

City Councilman Bill Peduto, a second-generation Italian-American, described Columbus "the same way someone who is Irish would describe St. Patty: it is as much an issue of identity as it is pride," he said.

"When we learn about American history, one of the first people we learn about is Christopher Columbus," Peduto said. "He sets the first chapter of our own shared history in this country."

Dennis Looney, chair of the French and Italian Department at the University of Pittsburgh, said all Americans celebrate Columbus Day in some fashion because it's a national holiday.

"All cultural ethnic groups create their own traditions," Looney said. "And Columbus becomes an Italian-American hero because he represents their beginnings. But in the case of Columbus, that tradition in time gets institutionalized and eventually is turned into a national holiday.

"Columbus was nationalized," he said. "I don't know how often that happens in our history. That's one of the intriguing thing about Columbus."

It is why Columbus is depicted in stained glass inside Heinz Chapel, and why cities across America name streets after him and erect statues and monuments in his likeness, he said.

Outside Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Oakland, a statue of Columbus portrays him "looking heroic, standing at the helm of a ship, looking to the future," Looney said.

"He represents courage and pioneering spirit and he (has) become a symbol, not only for all Italian-Americans, but for all immigrants who are making that same trek."

Said Guy Costa, chairman of the Pittsburgh Columbus Day parade committee, held each year in Bloomfield: "He gave us hope. And that's what people need to get through life."

Still, Columbus has his detractors.

After all, some have argued, Columbus is known for "discovering" a land that was inhabited, and he made that discovery only after vastly underestimating Earth's size, thus believing he had hit the East Indies when he stumbled upon the New World in 1492.

"There's been some hullabaloo about him bringing disease to the New World, (and) there's a certain degree of people saying he didn't discover America, that we're celebrating the wrong person," said Sam Patti, who owns La Prima Espresso Co. in the Strip District and participates in the American Italian Historical Association. "That's not totally accurate."

Plus, it's missing the point, Patti contends.

Yes, he said, Columbus Day is a source of great pride for ethnic Italians. But it's a celebration of a shared American experience.

"We are, as John F. Kennedy said, a 'nation of immigrants,' " he said. "Listen, there was mass migration. The Italians, Slovaks, Irish -- they all had the same motivations, and they all made the same sacrifices.

"We have to understand the sacrifices those people made. Columbus Day is about appreciating what these people did. ... How can you know where you're going if you don't know where you came from?"