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A cruise ship passes underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. A Brooklyn resident has started an online petition to add a second letter "Z" to Verrazano, so that the spelling of the bridge aligns with that of its namesake, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano. (Staten Island Advance)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mamma mia!

Fifty-two years after the first cars crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge linking Staten Island to Brooklyn, a Brooklyn man has started an online petition to change its spelling by adding another "Z" to Verrazano, so the spelling matches that of its namesake, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano.

"It's been 52 years we've been spelling it wrong," Robert Nash told The Brooklyn Daily.

Nash, 21, who lives in Dyker Heights, in the shadow of the bridge, founded the Italian-American Society at his alma mater Saint Francis University. "If we're really going to honor him -- and his name has two Zs -- then its time," he told the newspaper.

Nash created an online petition to "Correctly Spell 'Verrazzano' in Verrazano-Narrows Bridge."

"The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the United States of America. Its towers can be seen throughout the New York metropolitan area; it is one of New York's greatest landmarks," he noted. "All signs that do not spell Verrazzano correctly need to be replaced."

As of Tuesday morning, the petition had 71 signatures, including a dozen who identified themselves as Staten Islanders.

Nash intends to present the petition to the MTA Bridges and Tunnels, which maintains the span. But the agency says it has no plans to add the missing letter because of the time and cost involved, and the impact on traffic.

Nash, however, noted the agency spent millions to change the signs at the former Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the former Triborough Bridge, when they were re-named for former Gov. Hugh Carey, and Robert F. Kennedy, respectively.

According to the Staten Island Museum, the odd spelling of the Italian explorer's name -- Italian-American historians are quick to explain the spelling applies only to the bridge -- is believed to be a typographical error that stuck.

Master urban planner Robert Moses opposed naming the bridge after the Italian explorer, and there was even a movement to name the bridge after President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated just a year before the bridge opened. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, however, had the last word.

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge -- that most Staten Islanders refer to simply as "The Bridge" -- opened on Nov. 21 1964. A celebration marking its 50th anniversary took place in November of 2014.