Who was Santa Rosa anyway?

NICOSIA Mayor Michalakis Zampelas yesterday came under fire from former Communications and Works Minister Leontios Ierodiakonou for comments he made during the renaming of Santa Rosa Avenue in Nicosia into Spyros Kyprianou Avenue.
Zampelas said the street had been chosen because nobody knew who Santa Rosa was and why the street had been named after him in the first place.

Zampelas said he had looked in the municipality’s archives and found no trace of “this infamous Santa Rosa”.

Count Santa Rosa was actually an Italian philhellene who fought by the side of the Greeks during the 1821 uprising against Ottoman rule and gave his life for the cause at the battle of Sfaktira on April 26, 1825.

In a written statement yesterday, Ierodiakonou described Zampelas’ comments as strange and even infuriating.

“From his comment, it is obvious that the street was chosen because both the mayor and the members of the council were ignorant,” he said, decrying the “touch of irony and rejection of one of the most fiery philhellenes, who not only offered moral and material support but also gave their lives for the cause,” Ierodiakonou added.
“Maybe the mayor failed to think that one of his predecessors who chose to name one of the capital’s main avenues had a reason to do so. “They do not rename streets with that name in Greece, perhaps because people there respect foreigners who gave their lives for Greece.”

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