Gentile unveils Verrazano sculpture in Bay Ridge Park
Charging that Brooklyn was effectively “shut out” of the official celebration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Councilmember Vincent Gentile organized a tribute of his own on Wednesday, unveiling a sculpture of the man after whom the span was named.
During a ceremony in John J. Carty Park, a playground located at the foot of the bridge in Bay Ridge, Gentile unveiled a replica of a relief sculpture depicting Giovanni da Verrazzano, who was believed to have been the first European to have entered the Narrows, the waterway over which the bridge spans. The spelling of the explorer’s last name, which originally contained two Z’s, was changed to one Z when the bridge was named, Frank Naccarota, vice president of the Federation of Italian-American Organizations, told the Brooklyn Eagle.
Gentile (D-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bensonhurst) called the ceremony “a true Brooklyn celebration.”