Italia, Fascist State. A Youth "Opera Nazionale Balilla" (Onb) Cross Of Merit For Girls

Italy (Kingdom): Silver with light blue enamels, marked "800" (silver) on the reverse, 36.7 mm x 42.8 mm, original ribbon, intact enamels, slight discolouration evident in the silver where it butts the enamels, scuffs and contact marks, better than 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.