Italian dictator Benito Mussolini gifted the Balbo Monument to the city during the 1933-1934 “A Century of Progress” World’s Fair. It commemorates a historic transatlantic flight by Italian Air Marshal Italo Balbo, who led a squadron of 24 Savoia-Marchetti seaplanes from Italy to a spectacular landing on Chicago’s lakefront.

guess I've never seen one of those planes before. across the Atlantic in an early single engine, the thought makes me nervous!