Washington Square Park

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History

Who is this monument dedicated to?
This monument is dedicated to General Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882), the 19th-century Italian patriot who crusaded for a unified Italy during the European era of state building.

In 1834 Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the Young Italy Society organized by Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872). They fought in the first republican uprising for independence in Genoa, Italy, but after the movement was crushed Garibaldi fled to South America where he remained in exile from 1836 to 1848. While there, he fought against Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas in the Uruguayan Civil War from 1842 to 1846.

Garibaldi returned to Italy in 1849 to support Mazzini and his short-lived Roman Republic. After Mazzini’s regime capitulated to French forces, Garibaldi fled Italy for New York where he met inventor and fellow Italian exile Antonio Meucci (1808–1889), whose patent for telephone technology predated Alexander Graham Bell. Meucci invited Garibaldi to stay at his cottage in Clifton, Staten Island. There, Garibaldi worked as a candlemaker as he recovered from the war and planned his next military campaign. Today, the cottage on Tompkins Avenue is the home of the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum.

In 1854, Garibaldi returned to Italy to fight for a united Italian nation. In 1860, Garibaldi’s volunteer forces annexed Sicily and Naples. The successful campaign led to the unification of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel II, and solidified Garibaldi’s international reputation as a military leader. President Abraham Lincoln offered Garibaldi a command in the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War, which Garibaldi declined so that he could continue to fight for the fledgling nation.

How was this created?
The sculptor Giovanni Turini (1841–1899), who also designed the bronze bust of Mazzini unveiled in Central Park in 1878, was a volunteer member of Garibaldi’s Fourth Regiment during the war between Italy and Austria in 1866. Donated by New York’s Italian American community, this bronze statue on a granite pedestal was dedicated in 1888, the sixth anniversary of Garibaldi’s death.

By the 1960s, a good-luck ritual developed among New York University School of Finance students in which each new student tossed a penny at the base of the Garibaldi Monument at the start of the school year. Acknowledging this tradition and reinforcing its commitment to the community, the university sponsored a wreath-laying ceremony in 1961 to honor the centennial anniversary of Italy’s unification.

In 1970, the Garibaldi monument was moved about 15 feet to the east to allow for construction of a promenade in Washington Square. A glass vessel containing documents from the 1880s was found under the original base of the statue. The documents included newspaper accounts of Garibaldi’s death, a history of the Committee for the Monument of Garibaldi, the organization that helped place the statue, and a poster for and news clippings about the monument’s 1888 dedication.

In 1998, the monument was conserved by the NYC Parks’ Citywide Monuments Conservation Program. The treatment included cleaning, repatining, and applying a protective coating to the bronze sculpture, as well as cleaning and repairing the stone pedestal. In September 2000, Garibaldi’s scabbard, vandalized and long in storage, was reinstalled and unified with his sword. In 2011, as part of the larger park redesign, the westerly-oriented monument was moved to face south and overlook what is now known as Garibaldi Plaza, a focal point for performances and programs.

Giuseppe Garibaldi Details

Please note, the NAME field includes a primary designation as well as alternate namingsoften in common or popular usage. The DEDICATED field refers to the most recent dedication, most often, butnot necessarily the original dedication date. If the monument did not have a formal dedication, the yearlisted reflects the date of installation.

For more information, please contact Art & Antiquities at (212) 360-8163

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More About Washington Square Park

Zip Code:10011
Community Board: 02
Council Member: Christopher Marte
Park ID: M098
Acreage: 9.75
Property Type: Neighborhood Park

Lost and Found Information

Other Parks Nearby

• West 4th Street Courts (0.23 miles)
• Minetta Playground (0.24 miles)
• Mercer Playground (0.27 miles)
• Downing Street Playground (0.33 miles)
• William F. Passannante Ballfield (0.33 miles)