Liberty's Italian Sister: Pio Fedi's Sculpture on View at Ellis Island

A replica of Pio Fedi's 1883 sculpture 'Libertà della Poesia' is on display at the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration in New York as part of the exhibition 'Sisters in Liberty', running until April 26. The work, originally a monument to Italian patriot Giovanni Battista Niccolini in Florence's Basilica of Santa Croce, bears striking similarities to Frédéric Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty, leading art historians to question whether Bartholdi was inspired by Fedi. Both figures wear draped tunics and radiate-crown headgear, raise their right arms, and trample broken chains—a symbol of liberation. The exhibition, promoted by the Opera di Santa Croce, celebrates the bicentennial of the U.S. Consulate General in Florence. It features six rooms at the Ellis Island museum, including a video and panels tracing parallel histories of the pursuit of political freedom in Italy and the U.S. Artifacts include Fedi's original bust of Abraham Lincoln and a red shirt worn by Garibaldi during the Expedition of the Thousand. The centerpiece is a full-scale resin replica of Fedi's statue, created via high-resolution 3D scanning by Kent State University, weighing 250 kg and standing three meters tall. Visitors can interact with a touch screen to define freedom, with a similar installation at Santa Croce. The exhibition is curated by Giuseppe De Micheli, Paola Vojnovic, Ann Wilkins, and David Wilkins.