By Emma G. Fitzsimmons

The name graces one of New York City's engineering marvels. It stares out from scores of local road signs. It is all but synonymous with a steep toll. And it might have been misspelled all along. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island, was named after an Italian explorer. There is just one problem: The man is widely known as Giovanni da Verrazzano, with two z's.

More than a half-century after the bridge opened, some New Yorkers are calling for the spelling error to be corrected. An online petition taking up the cause has brought renewed attention to the enduring discrepancy. "By rectifying Verrazzano's name, we're really saying to all Italians and Italian-Americans that we respect them and appreciate them," said Joseph V. Scelsa, the president of the Italian American Museum in Lower Manhattan.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/