Little Italy's love for Christopher Columbus...

So I was in Little Italy this afternoon for the first time and overall it was cute! With that said, we did go into the Italian American Museum (since I love museums) and came across a whole panel dedicated to praising Columbus and attacking the idea that he was a bad guy. And of course, there's the Columbus statue at that park...

I just find it weird that out of all the Italians that one can choose to idolize, it's a man who didn't land anywhere near Cleveland and enslaved natives. Surely there's another less problematic Italian that accomplished a lot and still inspires a community?