There’s plenty of national disagreement about the reputation of Christopher Columbus, but Mayor Erin Stewart said Monday that nobody should doubt his influence on the world. The contributions of generations of Italian-Americans is also indisputable, she said at the city’s Columbus Day ceremony Monday morning. “There is little debate as to how much of an impact Italians and their famous explorers have had on the development of North America since Columbus’ ambitious and daring arrival more than 500 years ago,” Stewart said. “The Italian spirit has left an indelible and remarkable imprint on New Britain,” she said.

About two dozen people gathered at McCabe Park at Main and North streets for the annual ceremony in front of the Columbus statute. “Only in New Britain can you have a statue dedicated to an Italian, in a park named after an Irishman, located at the entrance to Little Poland,” Stewart said.