From Greve In Chianti To New York City: The Story Of Giovanni Da Verrazzano

Italy is a land of saints, poets and seafaring folk

. The Italian saying "Just think about the great protagonists of Italian history!" is old but true.

Italy's saints are numerous, but this is unsurprising given that it is the land where the Catholic religion was born. Think of San Francesco of Assisi, San Benedetto of Norcia and Santa Caterina from Siena.

Poets are also aplenty: from Dante to Petrarca, from Foscolo to Montale. Since the Middle Ages, Italy has always been a fertile land for drafting lines and verses.

And what about seafaring folk?

It is obvious that a country that is almost completely surrounded by the sea would give birth, over the centuries, to some of the most notorious experts in the difficult art of nautical navigation.

Cristoforo Colombo and Amerigo Vespucci are certainly amongst the most famous! Their contribution to the discovery of America (which was unsurprisingly named after the latter) guaranteed their places in history for many generations to come. There is another character though, who is perhaps not as well known, but who is nevertheless worthy of similar status.

Giovanni da Verrazzano was born in Greve in Chianti, a small village in Tuscany far away from the sea and surrounded by a soft and gentle countryside.

In 1524, this man who was to become a great Captain, left the wonderful landscape of his home and started his journey towards a future full of adventures, discoveries and ultimately, tragedy.

Giovanni was born in 1485 to a noble Florentine family. He showed a talent for life at sea from a very young age. He travelled across the Mediterranean Sea until he landed in France, where he started his career as a corsair in the service of the French King Francesco I (whose court at that time hosted many popular Florentine artists including Leonardo da Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini).

Not to be confused with pirates, "Corsairs" were soldiers at the service of governments. The name "Corsair" comes from the governments' peculiar habit of authorising the attack and plunder of enemy ships with a "Cors Letter".

Giovanni stood out for his courage and ability and in 1522 he acquired possession of a ship loaded with Mexican treasures, sent to Charles V (Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) by the Spanish conquistador, Cortez. An expert navigator, geographer and cartographer, it was in this big ship (called the Delphina) that Giovanni would head out into the unknown in 1524.

The ship landed in the Cape Fear area of North America, and Giovanni was the first man to discover the Hudson River Bay, where long after, a small city with a great future would be founded: New York.

During his first trip, Giovanni explored the east coast of America, from Florida to today's state of Maine. A curious explorer, he wrote about his voyages and about the habits of the people he came into contact with. His later trips took him as far as Brazil, the Bahamas and the Antilles.

In 1528, though, he landed in the isle of Guadalupe, where he met his cruel destiny: he was captured and eaten by cannibals.

Giovanni da Verrazzano was the discoverer of the New York Bay, but only recently has he been afforded this acknowledgment. Until the mid 20th century, the discovery was attributed to the English explorer Henry Hudson, who actually reached these lands much later in 1609.

In 1913, a beautiful monument to him was built in the main square of his hometown of Greve and in 1966 one of the bridges of Florence was named after him. However, the monument that he would have appreciated the most is certainly the Verrazzano Bridge in New York. It's one of the longest suspended bridges in the world and connects Brooklyn with Staten Island.

Unlike many others, who left their homeland in the mid 16th century to try and find a better life, this most famous citizen of Greve in Chianti chose adventure over a comfortable life in a prestigious residence.

Today, the Centre of Historic Studies of Verrazzano is based in an ancient castle that dominates Greve from the top of a rocky hill. It was once an ancient Roman and then Etrusk settlement. The Centre preserves and collects old archive documents about Giovanni and organises guided tours, narrating the life of this popular Chianti resident.

And that's not all! Visit www.verrazzano.it to book your tour of the historic castle. Admire the 16th century renaissance gardens, the cellars, and try the wine, balsamic vinegar, and honey produced there.

by: Stefano Becheroni

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