memorial wall. The ground floor of the ITAM Post was once the site of the Forde family butcher shop, owned and operated by Italian immigrants Frank and Catherine Forde (Fiordilisi). The structure's second floor served as the Fordes' residence, where they raised eight children. A concrete marker on the building's facade features the inscription, "Forde 1921". Other Italian enclaves Although many neighborhoods and communities in the Youngstown area had large Italian-American populations—including Smoky Hollow, the near East Side, East Youngstown (now Campbell), Struthers, and Lowellville—Brier Hill was widely recognized as the city's unofficial Little Italy. Pizza The neighborhood was the birthplace of "Brier Hill pizza", a home-style recipe with origins in the Basilicata region of Italy. Brier Hill pizza is prepared with a generous amount of thick "Sunday sauce", bell peppers and romano cheese, as opposed to the more typical mozzarella. It is one of several dishes the Youngstown area prides itself upon, in much the same way New Yorkers value their distinctive thin-crusted New York-style pizza. Neighborhood progress Local activists from the Pro-Yo Party and the ITAM (Post 12) are working to make Brier Hill a Sister-City/"Cugin" Community of San Pietro Avellana (Isernia). San Pietro is a small village in the Apennine hills of Southeastern Italy that is the ancestral home of many Italian Americans in the Youngstown area. Notable residents James Farragher, Notre Dame football team coach (1902–1903) Jack Scheible, Major league baseball player (1893–1894) David Tod, Civil War governor of Ohio (1862–1864) See also Youngstown Neighborhoods Youngstown Sheet and Tube Other Italian Neighborhoods in NE Ohio: Little Italy, Cleveland Lowellville, Ohio References External links City of Youngstown (official site) Youngstown 2010 Plan (official site) - includes Neighborhood Maps & Demographics Italian-American culture in Ohio Neighborhoods in Youngstown, Ohio