Verdi Square

Verdi Square is a small triangle of land enclosed by a railing, located on Manhattan's Upper West Side, between 72nd Street and 73rd Street on the south and north, and Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue on the west and east. The square fronts West 72nd Street on the north; across the street to the south lies Sherman Square.

In its center stands a large monument to opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. A statue of him stands at the top of it and statues of four of his most famous characters (Falstaff, Leonora of "La forza del destino", Aida and Otello) are on the base below him. Flowers around the statue bloom in the spring and summer months.An IRT subway station lies under the square.

In the 1960s and 1970s the adjacent Verdi Square and Sherman Square were known by local users and dealers as "needle park." [cite news |first= Richard F.|last= Shepard|title= Strolling Up Broadway, The West Side's Spine|url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2D7113CF93BA35757C0A96E948260|work= "The New York Times" |date= April 8, 1988|accessdate=2008-04-18 ] as depicted in "The Panic in Needle Park".

References

External links

* [http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=6534 Verdi Square - New York City Department of Parks & Recreation]