The Columbus Day Parade, a major event for the Italian and Italian-American communities in New York, has returned to Manhattan. This year's parade, in its 82nd year, traveled down Fifth Avenue from 47th to 72nd Street, featuring marching bands, floats, and institutional and cultural delegations from Italy and the United States. Giorgio Mulè, Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies, Giuseppe Pastorelli, Italian Consul in New York, and Claudio Pagliara, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, were also present. "The Italian community here plays a very important role, along with the Italian-American community. We are talking about 120,000 Italians and roughly 2 million Italian-Americans. This is the most significant and largest parade in the entire United States. So we should be proud, especially today", Giuseppe Pastorelli, Italian Consul in New York, told 9colonne on the occasion of Columbus Day. The Columbus Citizens Foundation organizes the event. The 2026 edition is also dedicated to the contribution of Italians to American history, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence. The parade is held annually on Columbus Day, a federal holiday celebrating Columbus' landing in the Americas in 1492. In New York, the festival remains one of the key events for Italian-American organizations.