In New York City, it is easy to find oneself rambling through a forest overgrown with forgotten history. Buried in that vast wood, far from Florence and tucked away in an outer borough, is a striking, but often overlooked, intersection between two legendary Italian lives: the Garibaldi Meucci Museum.

A gemstone set in the history of the Risorgimento can be found in a quiet corner of Tompkins Ave, in the Clifton section of Staten Island overlooking the Narrows. The setting is theatrical. If New York City is the stuff of fairytales, then Staten Island is the boisterous red-headed stepchild.