The statue of Giuseppe Verdi, set high above a patch of daffodils, draws scant attention from people hurrying to the subway at Seventy-second Street and Broadway, or even from people lounging on the nearby benches of what used to be called Needle Park, back in the city's drug-infested era. Impressively spruced up now, Verdi Square, which, like many city squares, is actually a triangle, has seen some fine musical events in the past decade, since the Verdi Square Festival was founded.

But a real Verdian apotheosis, complete with chorus, took place on a recent chilly Saturday morning, when a crowd of music-mad New Yorkers gathered to watch five Italian visitors—four men and one small boy—place a bouquet of roses at the composer's marble feet.

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Source: http://www.newyorker.com/