Brier Hill to celebrate Italian heritage

Joseph Trolio, who helped organize the first Brier Hill Fest, will be named the
festival’s Man of the Year.

YOUNGSTOWN — The 16th annual Brier Hill Italian Fest opens Thursday and runs through Sunday at the corner of Calvin and Victoria streets, in the heart of the old North Side neighborhood.

The festival — the longest continuously running Italian festival in the city — taps into its past by rekindling the spirit of the old neighborhood.

Brier Hill became a mecca for Italian immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and was a thriving ethnic enclave for decades.

The neighborhood is perhaps best known for the unique pizza that originated there. Brier Hill pizza — a thick crust topped with roasted green peppers and Romano cheese — has become a specialty of the region. The pizza, along with other traditional Italian foods, will be on the menu at the festival, which also will feature games, vendors and live Italian music.

“It is really a great event,” said Claire Maluso of the city’s Office of Economic Development. “People that were born in the area come back from all over the country.”

Maluso is one of the four members of the committee that started the festival — a committee that remains intact. The others are co-chairmen Dominic Modarelli and Councilman Joseph Naples, and treasurer Neil Buzzaco.

Man of Year

Each year, the festival honors a Man of the Year. The 2007 honor will go to Joseph Trolio at a ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday.

Trolio, 84, was born on Poplar Street to immigrant parents Antonio and Nicolette Trolio, the second of seven children. An Army infantry member, he served during World War II in the South Pacific.

After his discharge, he learned the auto body trade, and eventually became the body shop manager at State Chevrolet before opening his own business in 1973. He married Antoinette Vespasian in 1947 and had two children.

Trolio played a key role in organizing the first Brier Hill Fest, and spearheaded the construction of the festival’s bandstand and dance floor.