Italian American Digest JT DIGEST Summer 2018 June First (1) | Page 5

SUMMER 2018
I talian A merican D igest
PAGE 5
The refurbished Piazza d’Italia will be the site of Opera at the Piazza on June 15.
Moore proposed a public fountain
surrounded by colonnades and fea-
turing a campanile, an Italian style
bell tower.
The location selected for the
piazza was in the city’s warehouse
district, as the 1970’s was a time that
saw much interest in reinvestment in
the downtown neighborhood. It was
hoped the piazza would help revital-
ize the area.
Completed and
dedicated by Moon
Landrieu’s succes-
sor, Mayor Ernest M.
“Dutch” Morial, the
Piazza d’Italia was ac-
claimed as a postmodern
architectural master-
piece.
Unfortunately, nei-
ther public nor private funding was
secured to finance further redevelop-
ment of the area; the piazza did not
realize its full potential and deterio-
rated. The site was cited as a “post-
modern ruin” resembling the ruins of
the classical structures from which it
took it inspiration.
Fortunately the most recent of at-
tempts to renovate and refurbish the
site have successfully brought the
piazza back into the city’s conscious-
ness and it may now achieve the
prominence for which it was origi-
nally intended.
- Enrico Villamaino III
FOUR SEASONS STATUES
Nestled in the corners of Jackson
Square are the statues of the Four
Seasons.
These marble statues were pur-
chased by Domonique Lanata in
1851. The Lanata family is one of
the earliest Italian families to settle
in New Orleans.
Each statue represents a sea-
son: Winter is an old bearded man,
muffled in a cloak; Spring is a young
girl, holding flowers; Autumn is
a mature woman, sickle in girdle;
and Summer is a young man, legs
crossed, book at breast, luxuriant
grapes resting on a tree trunk on
which he leans.
The Four Seasons Statues are
amongst the oldest in Louisiana and
a hidden gem in our city.
- Megan Celona
IMMIGRATION
The first Italians
came to Louisiana as
explorers in the seven-
teenth and eighteenth
centuries. In the eigh-
teenth century many
Italians, primarily from
northern Italy, arrived in
Louisiana.
The early Italian immigrants
started businesses and supported the
development of the arts.
According to the Census Bureau,
between 1850 and 1870 there were
more Italians in New Orleans than
anywhere else in the United States.
In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi led a
successful expedition to conquer the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies which
was ruled by the French Bourbons.
In 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was
created and the country unified, mi-
nus Venice and Rome, which joined
in 1866 and 1870 respectively.
While unified geographically, the
people were deeply divided along
class, linguistic, regional and social
lines.
In southern Italy, the gap between
wealthy landowners and poor peas-
ants grew wider; many Southern
Italians could not afford to purchase
land.
This coupled with the threat of
organized crime and abject poverty
motivated many Southern Italians to
immigrate to the Americas.
Tricentennial cont. on page 6
Summer is one of the Four Seasons statues in New Orleans.