Frank Vittor, sculptor of the past

When a client paid Frank Vittor for a sculpture by giving him a car, the Italian immigrant was determined to drive it.

Vittor, a prolific sculptor who brought huge blocks of granite to life throughout the region, couldn't master the art of driving.

"He went straight up a tree," said his daughter, Carla Scatena, 78, of Baden. From that day forward, he refused to ride in the front seat of an automobile, she said.

Vittor, who died in 1968, was honored Sunday with a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker near one of his best-known works: the statue of Christopher Columbus in Schenley Park. The presentation was made in conjunction with the annual Columbus Day festivities.

"It's important that we remember how we all got here. ... It's important to honor our ancestors," said state Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills.

Vittor, who left Italy in 1917 to come to America with a pocketful of dreams, was "one of the greatest sons of Italy," said Carla Lucente, honorary consul of Italy.

Vittor's statue of Honus Wagner stood at Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium before being placed outside PNC Park. In addition to smaller works, Vittor did more than 50 memorials and fountains throughout the Pittsburgh area, including many that have become landmarks.

"He fell in love with this city. He is extremely important," said Nicholas Ciotola, curator of the Italian American Collection at the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Born in 1888 in Mozzato, Italy, Vittor visited Pittsburgh in 1917 and was encouraged to stay by Dr. John A. Brashear, a prominent astronomer, who admired his bronze sculptures. Vittor stayed in Pittsburgh and taught art and sculpture at the Carnegie Institute and Carnegie Institute of Technology, forerunners of Carnegie Mellon University.

"He worked around the clock. He embraced the Pittsburgh work ethic," Ciotola said.

His daughter was often at his side in the studio.

"He worked every minute that he was up, or planning it or sketching it," Scatena said.

His sketches and other documents were lost when the piece of furniture where they were kept was stolen, she said.

Vittor's subjects included American presidents Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. He completed a ten-foot bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson at Jefferson Memorial Park in the South Hills.

He visited the White House to work on the busts of several presidents.

"Some of the presidents were done in a live setting," Ciotola said.

Vittor was commissioned by the Pennsylvania State Commission to design a Gettysburg commemorative half dollar that was minted in 1938 for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

He founded the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors and was a member of the city planning commission.

A plaque on the base of the Columbus statue was stolen right after the statue was erected in 1958.

Anthony J. DiNardo, national president of the Sons of Columbus USA, said his group is hoping to replace the stolen plaque.

"We're trying to find out what it said," DiNardo said.