Columbus Statue Restoration Fund

Hi, my name is John Corritone and I am raising money to help restore the Columbus Statue in Richmond, Virginia.

The Columbus Monument had been a fixture in the Richmond community at the entrance of Byrd Park for 93 years before the evening of June 9, 2020 when the Columbus Statue was illegally torn down, vandalized, set on fire, and thrown into nearby Swan Lake by individuals protesting.

Since that fateful evening in 2020, The Italian-American Cultural Association of Virginia (IACA) has worked diligently to negotiate with the City of Richmond for ownership of the Columbus statue. On December 12, 2022, the Richmond City Council unanimously approved Ordinance 2022-311 transferring ownership of the Columbus statue to IACA and on February 7, 2023 the physical transfer of Columbus was completed. Today the statue is warehoused in a secure location in the Richmond area where it has been evaluated and determined the costs to repair, restore and expenses for future relocation would cost in excess of $10,000.00. IACA’s objective once the restoration is complete is to provide a permanent location for Columbus where people appreciate the statue as a work of art and continue to preserve the legacy of Christopher Columbus for current and future generations.

So why is it important to keep the legacy of Columbus alive? Columbus represents, in ways, the American legacy in our country where all of us as immigrants or descendants of immigrants arrived in America in search of a better life and the freedoms that America provides. So too were the Italian immigrants who settled in Richmond starting in the 1850s forming a small, cohesive segment of Richmond’s population. In 1925, the Italian business community organized a drive to honor Columbus and chose to erect a statue of Christopher Columbus as an expression of cultural identity and a symbol of Italian-American pride of their adopted city and country.

Richmond resident Ferruccio Legnaioli, a trained artist and sculptor from Florence, was chosen to create the statue and his work over the years included designing decorative stonework and ornamentation for the facades of iconic buildings in downtown Richmond that still stand today. On December 9, 1927 the Columbus Statue, the first Columbus statue in the South, which was sculpted, erected and financed entirely by the Italian community of Richmond, was dedicated and gifted to the City of Richmond.

IACA, as a 501c3 organization, asks for your support by making a tax deductible contribution to The Columbus Statue Restoration Fund.

Thank you in advance for your contribution. Your donation will go toward continuing IACA’s efforts for restoring both the Columbus Statue and Columbus’ legacy.

Sincerely,

John Corritone

Committee Chairperson, Columbus Statue Restoration Fund

Corresponding Secretary

The Italian-American Cultural Association of Virginia