For her philanthropic and humanitarian efforts, Gina Biancardi, the founder of Casa Belvedere, was invested as Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I, during an Investiture ceremony Friday evening at the Italian Cultural Center on Grymes Hill. 

The Royal Order of Francis I is an Order of Chivalry established in the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1829, before the Italian unification. It was formed as a union of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, which was called the "Two Sicilies.”