For many Americans, Columbus Day is no longer a day for celebration. But for Italian Americans, the federal holiday holds special meaning, since it is the only federal holiday honoring a person of Italian descent.

Despite his poor treatment of native residents in the New World, Columbus did put Italians on the map for his discovery of a new route to the "West Indies," which was later recognized as a completely different continent by Columbus' contemporary and fellow Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Although over 500 years have passed since Columbus' discovery, local Italian Americans band together every year to celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492.