Italy, Kingdom. A Fascist Youth Athletic Competition Medal

"Opera Nazionale Balilla" (ONB). In bronze, obverse illustrating three bare-chested male athletes, the front man with a discus, the two men behind with javelins, surrounded by the inscription "SORTI / DEVOTA / FVTVRAE / PAPI", reverse illustrating a large fasces, with a branch of oak leaves and acorns to the left and a branch of leaves to the right, inscribed "A" at the above left, "VII" at the above right, "ONB" below the fasces and engraver marked "F.M. LORIOLI & CASTELLI", measuring 39.5 mm in diameter, a hole drilled at the top for suspension, spotting, light contact, very fine.

Footnote: The Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) was an Italian Fascist youth organization functioning between 1926 and 1937, when it was absorbed into the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL), a youth section of the National Fascist Party. It takes its name from Balilla, the nickname of Giovan Battista Perasso, a Genoese boy who, according to local legend, started the revolt of 1746 against the Habsburg forces that occupied the city in the War of the Austrian Succession. Perasso was chosen as the inspiration for his supposed age and revolutionary activity, while his presence in the fight against Austria reflected the irredentist stance taken by early Fascism, and Italy's victories in the First World War.