Dante Park was established in 1921 by Italian-Americans in honor of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) on a triangular plot of land opposite Lincoln Center, bounded by Broadway, Columbus Avenue, and West 63rd Street. Carlo Barsotti, the editor of the Italian-American newspaper Il Progresso Italo-Americano, originally wanted to erect a much more substantial statue of Dante to be placed in Times Square around 1912, but because of fundraising difficulties opted for a smaller statue completed by Ettore Ximenes to be erected at Broadway and West 63rd Street in 1921, the 600th anniversary of Dante's death.[2][1] Dante Park underwent renovations in the early 1990s funded by the neighboring Radisson Empire Hotel, with the sculpture also repaired.[1]
