Pin, Membership
Object number2015.20.10
Manufacturer
Picchiani
OriginFlorence, Italy
MediumMetal/Enamel
Credit LineGift of Mary Antol
DescriptionFascist pin or OND badge. Rectangular silver metal. Front has blue enamel background sky with silver text "OND" at top above a bird in flight over a "fascio" at center with a landscape to the left and a building to the right. Reverse has tapered oblong tongue for attaching to garment.Dimensions0.875 x 0.563 x 0.25 in. (2.2 x 1.4 x 0.6 cm)InscriptionsFront has silver text "OND" at top, which stands for Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro.
MarksMaker's mark at top of tongue "PICCHIANI / C / FIRENZE".
Raised text on back of rectangle: on right is "PICCHIANI FIRENZE" and on left is "DEPOSITATE".
Historical NotesThis is a fascist pin from a school uniform. Part of a collection that documents the Helpy and Cordasco families, originally of San Donato di Ninea, Calabria, Italy. Frank Helpy (born Francesco Apa) immigrated to McKees Rocks in 1897 at the age of five and he attended the Irish Catholic grade school where the nuns changed his last name from "Apa" to "Helpy." He went back and forth between the United States and Italy as a young man; during one of his return visits to San Donato, he married Filomena Capolupo. Helpy operated a cobbler shop in Pitcairn to support his wife and four children in Italy. When the political situation in Europe became tense in the 1930s and Fascism was on the rise in Italy, Frank decided his family should relocate to live with him in Pitcairn. Frank's daughter, Rosalia "Rosalie" Helpy, along with her mother and three siblings moved to United States in 1935; because the children were born to an American father, the family did not have to pass through Ellis Island. Frank eventually closed his cobbler shop and opened Helpy's Tavern and operated it until his death in 1966, after which his daughter Rosalie and her husband, Joseph Cordasco, took over the bar until it's closing in 1993. Joseph Cordasco came to the United States in 1915 with his father, first to the North Side. He was drafted into the Army in 1942 and served with the 5th Army in North Africa and Italy as a Master Sergeant in the Quartermasters unit. While Joseph was serving in the American Army, his brother Pietro was serving in the Italian Army. They met up while Joseph was stationed in Naples and dressed Pietro up as an American soldier so he could stay on base for a couple weeks. Joseph was also able to return to Calabria after V-E Day and visit his mother and other siblings. After he returned from the war, Joseph married Rosalie in 1946, who he had met before the war at a paesani picnic for people from San Donato di Ninea living in America. They settled in Pitcairn where they had one daughter, Mary Cordasco. He opened Joe's Shoe Store in the 1950's, which remained open until business waned with the opening of the Miracle Mile in Monroeville. After closing the shoe store Joseph worked at Westinghouse and assisted with Helpy's Tavern.
Related institution
National Recreational Club
On View
Not on view
1999
2006
1944-1945
