Giovanni da Verrazzano (often spelled Verrazano; 1485-1528) was an Italian explorer of North America, in the service of the French crown. He is renowned as the first European since the Norse colonization of the Americas around AD 1000 to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between South and North Carolina and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay in 1524. The bridge over the opening of New York harbor, a naval vessel of the Italian navy, a destroyer of the Navigatori class, are among his numerous eponymous honors.