Visit “Franco’s Italian Army” Headquarters For a Good Meal and Some History

WHERE: Vento’s Pizza in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh

WHEN: Vento’s has regular hours though it is closed on Sunday

HOW TO DO IT: Just show up at a reasonable hour Monday through Saturday

COST FACTOR: $–$$. Get a pizza but also try the sandwich named after Franco Harris. There is no shame at all in walking out of Vento’s with leftovers.

DIFFICULTY FACTOR: There is none.

BUCKET RANK:

Vento’s Pizza, situated in a shopping center anchored by a Home Depot, can seem unremarkable to motorists passing by on busy North Highland Avenue. A closer look, however, reveals it to be a must-stop for Steelers fans.

The first clue that the place is an absolute treasure is the window with the sign that touts Vento’s as “Home of Franco’s Italian Army.” Step inside and step back into time.

The restaurant only accepts cash and a sign on the soda fountain advises patience since everything is made to order. It is the kind of place where you can’t go wrong ordering anything, and the steaming Sicilian pies feature a thick crust that melts in your mouth. The wait for the pizzas is as worthwhile as the pies themselves since Vento’s could also qualify as a Steelers museum.

The restaurant walls are covered with photographs and memorabilia that document that Steelers’ history, from a 1933 picture of the first team (then called the Pittsburgh Pirates) to one of founder Art Rooney posing with four Lombardi Trophies.

Framed Sports Illustrated covers highlight two of the most celebrated grabs in Super Bowl history. There is the one of Lynn Swann near the end of the ridiculous catch against the Dallas Cowboys, the one in which he tipped the ball to himself several times as he was falling down before making a catch in Super Bowl X. To the right of that indelible Super Bowl highlight is the shot of John Stallworth making the iconic over-the-shoulder grab that allowed the Steelers to overcome the Los Angeles Rams and win their fourth Super Bowl.

The pictures stir all kinds of memories, and the past really comes to life when the patriarch of Vento’s ambles into the restaurant he has owned since 1951. Al Vento meets every Saturday with a group that includes brothers John, a World War II veteran who fought in the Pacific theater, and Andy. And on a crisp November day in 2015, Vento, who was 89 years old at the time, talked about one of his most cherished creations: Franco’s Italian Army.

Al Vento, left, and Tony Stagno, right, initiate Frank Sinatra into Franco’s Italian Army in a picture that hangs in Vento’s Pizza in Pittsburgh.

Vento and the late Tony Stagno founded the most famous of fan clubs that sprouted when the Steelers started winning big. “The Army,” as Vento still calls it, is as much a part of 1970s lore as the Terrible Towel.

What eventually became the most famous standing army in Western Pennsylvania since George Washington’s troops fought there started when Vento and Stagno asked Steelers guard Sam Davis, a frequent customer at Vento’s, about doing something to celebrate Harris’ Italian heritage.

Harris loved the idea of an Italian army when they pitched it to him, and to say Vento and Stagno ran with it is an understatement. They had a friend in the Army Reserves get them helmets and The Italian Army went so far as to ride tanks onto the field at Three Rivers Stadium before one game against the hated Raiders. They even dropped leaflets announcing their arrival. They had made an arrangement with the Steelers about the tanks but could not convince the weather to also cooperate and strong winds caused the leaflets to miss their drop.

“They blew everywhere but onto the field,” Vento recalled with a chuckle. “It was a fun era and I don’t think it will ever be duplicated.”

Indeed, imagine a fan club driving anything onto an NFL field these days with the state of security. Or sneaking bags of wine into the game.

The Italian Army did both, cutting out the inside of loaves of bread from Stagno’s bakery and tucking Riunite bottles into the hollowed parts. They only had to get past one security guard in those days and a chaplain distracted the guard while the Army carried the bags of supplies to their seats on the 30-yard line. There they ate hoagies, waved Italian flags and toasted the Steelers as well as Myron Cope in the broadcast booth.

Cope, as colorful a character as Pittsburgh has ever produced, had embraced the Army from its inception, and the legendary broadcaster played a key role in its most famous moment.

Cope was dining in a Palm Springs restaurant known for feeding the stars in 1972 as the Steelers were practicing in Southern California in advance of their regular-season finale at San Diego.

Cope saw Frank Sinatra and had a waiter deliver a note on a napkin asking the legendary singer to join the army. As Cope later told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he played up Harris’ Italian heritage and even said he was from Hoboken, New Jersey—Sinatra had been born there—when in fact Harris was from southern New Jersey.

Cope’s machinations worked. He convinced Sinatra to attend Steelers practice the following day and phoned Vento and Stagno with orders to fly to California at once.

Jim Boston, the Steelers’ traveling secretary, had naturally been skeptical of Cope’s claim that Sinatra would show at practice and teased Cope about it the next day. “Out of the blue,” Vento recalled, “Frankie taps [Boston] on the shoulder and says, ‘When I make an appointment I keep it.’”

Adding to the surreal scene was Chuck Noll, the stern coach who hated distractions, ordering Harris to take a break from practice so he could attend Sinatra’s induction into the army.

“We made him a colonel,” Vento said with a laugh.

As Vento talked a picture of him and Stagno with Sinatra hung not more than a goal-line plunge behind him, adding visual proof to a story that sounds too good to be true.

Those were different times in a different era and Vento savored every one of them. The army commissioned a division of Steelers fans from Butler, which is north of Pittsburgh, and it even marched in the stadium when the Steelers played at Cleveland.

“A couple of times they wanted to fight us,” Vento said of the Browns fans, “but we took care of ourselves. We didn’t walk away feeling bad, I’ll tell you that.”

Vento keeps in touch with Harris and his wife, Dana, and he still has Steelers season tickets though he usually only attends the first two home games of the year while the weather is still warm.

Franco’s Italian Army has long disbanded but Vento and his restaurant keep it alive. Vento’s is worth visiting for the food and atmosphere alone. An added bonus is listening to Al Vento spin tales from a bygone era.

“The ’70s and ’80s were the greatest fan clubs and fun we ever had and the teams were good,” he said. “All good things have to come to an end.”

EXTRA POINTS

Vento’s Catered to More Than Steelers Players

Vento’s Pizza proved to be a popular eating spot for Steelers players but it also catered to a couple of other Pittsburgh sports legends. Connie Hawkins, a member of the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame, and pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino were also regulars at Vento’s. The restaurant isn’t in its original location—it moved a couple of blocks in 1994 to accommodate a new shopping center—but Vento’s remains as authentic as ever.