Born 1485,
Tuscany, Italy
Died 1528,
Guadeloupe, West Indies

The name Verrazano is familiar to many in North America because of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which spans from Brooklyn to Staten Island, crossing over the entrance (“the Narrows”) of New York Harbor. One of the longest suspension bridges in the world, it was named after Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian explorer, who in 1524 became the first European to sight New York Harbor and many other points along the eastern coast of North America. He also wrote the earliest account of Native American life in that region. Verrazano had been commissioned by the king of France to explore the eastern coast from Florida to Newfoundland with the goal of finding a passage to Asia.

Voyage to North America

Giovanni da Verrazano was born in 1485 into an aristocratic family in the Chianti region of Tuscany, Italy. Pursuing...