{"id":371320,"date":"2026-10-12T21:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T21:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/371320\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T21:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T21:14:22","slug":"italian-american-pride-takes-fifth-avenue-as-mamdani-skips-nyc-columbus-day-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/371320\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian-American pride takes Fifth Avenue as Mamdani skips NYC Columbus Day Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ciao, bella! Italian cultural pride filled Fifth Avenue on Monday as NYC hosted the 82nd Columbus Day Parade<\/a>, returning after last year\u2019s march was canceled due to heavy storms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Organized by the Columbus Citizens Foundation, the annual parade celebrates Italian and Italian-American heritage, as well as Italian Americans\u2019 contributions to the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s theme, \u201cTwo Flags, One Home,\u201d honored both Old Glory, celebrating America\u2019s \u00a0250th birthday, and the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"personHolding the Italian flag at the Columbus Day Parade.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was met with some jeers along the parade route, and state Attorney General Lethal James were among the elected officials who attended the festive occasion, holding a banner together that read, \u201cGovernor Kathy Hochul Celebrates Italian American Heritage,\u201d as Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cNew York, New York\u201d played in the music played in the background.<\/p>\n

At one point, the political pair made a stop at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral, where they were greeted by Rev. Enrique Salvo and Cardinal Timothy Dolan.\n<\/p>\n

Thousands of spectators lined the world-famous thoroughfare between 44th and 72nd streets, waving Italian flags, cheering and wearing their best wearing red, white and green garb.
\n\"\"FDNY is represented at the Columbus Day Parade in NYC.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell\n<\/p>\n

People raised green, white and red flags, cheering and screaming as their favorite floats came by.<\/p>\n

Richard Zito of Staten Island made the trip into the city and shared with amNewYork what Columbus Day means to him\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about passing down pride to the next generation,\u201d he said \u201cMy grandchildren need to know where they came from,\u201d he said.\u00a0
\n\"\"Italian cultural pride filled Fifth Avenue on Oct. 12, 2026.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell\n<\/p>\n

Ray Dalio, a philanthropist and founder of investment management firm Bridgewater Associates, was the grand marshal at the parade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis profound impact on global economics and his dedication to sharing the Principles of success embody the excellence and industrious spirit that Italian Americans have brought to this nation for two and a half centuries,\u201d the Columbus Citizens Foundation said about honoring Dalio at the pararde.<\/p>\n

\"paradeA float in NYC\u2019s Columbus Day Parade.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
\nMamdani a no-show at the Columbus Day Parade<\/p>\n

Noticeably absent from the NYC tradition was Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has made clear in the past, including during last year\u2019s mayoral debates, that he would not attend every parade in the city as mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani received headline-making backlash from New Yorkers earlier this year for omitting Manhattan\u2019s Little Italy, along with other Jewish and Irish neighborhoods, off of a tourism map highlighting immigrant neighborhoods in NYC.<\/p>\n

Despite the parade and map snubs, the mayor released a social media video on Saturday recognizing Italian Heritage Month.\n<\/p>\n

In the video, he discusses the Italian immigration to NYC at the turn of the 20th century, the struggles and discrimination they faced when they arrived and other challenges they faced as they took on heavy labor and grueling work to build the city and the country Americans live in today.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Happy Italian Heritage Month, New York. Here\u2019s continuing to fight for Vito Marcantonio\u2019s vision of a government that works for all working people. https:\/\/t.co\/9mlQN7mAZR<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough it all, Italians didn\u2019t turn away from New York City,\u201d the mayor says in the video. \u201cInstead, they organized with the vision of a better future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the mayor is expected to host a reception celebrating Italian-American heritage at Gracie Mansion this month, though a date has not been publicly announced.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell \"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell \"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell \"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell \"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell \"\"Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ciao, bella! Italian cultural pride filled Fifth Avenue on Monday as NYC hosted the 82nd Columbus Day Parade,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[524,575,863,9,56,63,65,64,104134,613,87,142,82],"class_list":["post-371320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-columbus-day-parade","tag-fifth-avenue","tag-italian-american-heritage","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-parades-in-nyc","tag-pm-newsletter","tag-politics","tag-transit","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}