NYU Florence, in collaboration with The Opera di Santa Croce, teamed up to have one of our students, Serena Mahal Ponciano (CAS ’22) become an ambassador for the current  “Sisters in Liberty: From Florence, Italy, to New York, New York.” This exhibition at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in New York is currently open until April 26, 2020.

Serena, under the guidance of Paola Vojnovic and Donata Grossoni from the Opera di Santa Croce, completed a six hour training course in order to present the exhibition in New York to New York City school children. This unique opportunity to create a bridge between Serena’s experience in Florence and her return to NYU in New York allows her to bring her Florence experience to New York.

This exhibition depicts the special exchange of ideas and art that inextricably unites Florence and Italy with New York and the United States. Two special “Sisters in Liberty” statues: the solemn Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World by Frédéric Bartholdi, which has dominated the New York harbor since 1886, and the elegant Liberty of Poetry by Pio Fedi, inaugurated in 1883 as a monument to the Italian patriot Giovanni Battista Niccolini in Santa Croce in Florence, embody this special exchange, where people’s stories intertwine with the pursuit of freedom and democracy.  These two statues are sisters because they are similar in stance and in detail. And still today, among art historians, the question is an open one: was Bartholdi, who visited Florence, inspired by Fedi’s Liberty?

This initiative, promoted by the Opera di Santa Croce is linked to the celebration of the bicentennial of the United States Consulate General Office in Florence.  The project partners are: the National Parks Service / Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, Kent State University, US Consulate General in Florence, Italian Consulate General in New York, Garibaldi Meucci Museum, The Union League Legacy Foundation.