The box concealing the Christopher Columbus statue is painted in colors of Italian flag

The plywood box that conceals the controversial statue of Christopher Columbus in Marconi Park in South Philadelphia sits newly painted in the colors of the Italian flag.

Residents who gathered in the park on Sunday afternoon to celebrate their Italian American heritage with a parade and festival said city officials agreed to the paint job as a kind of conciliation amidst an ongoing court battle over the statue’s fate.

The box, originally painted green, according to a KYW report, appeared to have had the red and white paint to create the Italian flag added later, presumably by an independent artist. It was painted on Friday evening at the request of Councilmember Mark Squilla, according to KYW. Squilla did not return two calls to his cell phone from an Inquirer reporter Sunday.

“They did it for us — the Italians. It made us feel a little bit better,” Thomas DeFino said. “It’s to honor our heritage. They had to pull some strings to paint it.”

While he said he appreciated what he viewed as an appeasing gesture, DeFino added, “It’s still in a box. He should have been taken out at least for one day,” adding that his Italian ancestors settled in Philadelphia more than 100 years ago.

Frank Lo Scalzo, 41, agreed: “I wish they would have taken the box down but that’s a good compromise.”

The statue, encased in plywood for more than two years, is at the center of an ongoing legal battle between the city, which hopes to take down the statue, and the Friends of Marconi Plaza and others in favor of keeping it in place.

Heated, and at times even turning violent, clashes broke out beneath the statue in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

In a city where Italian heritage runs deep, Columbus has been feted with annual parades and celebrations. Several residents who attended Sunday’s festivities said they view Columbus as a symbol of their heritage, describing him as a “courageous explorer” who discovered America.

Historians, however, say Columbus never actually set foot on the mainland of North America. His diaries and letters, and those of men in his expeditions, describe how he seized land, enslaved natives to dig for gold, cut off hands and heads, and sold girls as young as 9 years old as sex slaves.

Mabel Negrete, executive director of Indigenous Peoples’ Day Philly Inc., said “it’s unfortunate” that some Italian Americans in the city continue to celebrate Columbus. She said the painting of the box in colors of the Italian flag “undermines intentions to move forward.”

“It doesn’t seem like the right direction to continue to celebrate and attach themselves to somebody who has a history that is so complicated and problematic,” Negrete said. “It’s unfortunate.”

Mayor Jim Kenney has declared Monday, formerly called Columbus Day, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. An event to commemorate Indigenous communities is slated for Monday at 11 a.m. at Shackamaxon, also called Penn Treaty Park.