Profiles

Fr. Richard Fragomeni, the rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, has been known for weaving in stories about his mother and father into his homilies and using Italian traditions during Mass, but one thing he is most passionate about is the gift of music in Mass. With the recent renovation of the Shrine, located in Chicago’s Taylor Street Little Italy, one of Fr. Fragomeni’s main goals was to uphold and enhance the church’s acoustics to celebrate music in the highest regard. He is a gifted singer and piano player; something his mother, Mary, instilled in him since …

Now the principal of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral School in Chicago, Anna Cirilli owes her desire to pursue a career in school leadership to the overcrowding in Chicago public schools. Cirilli worked as a teacher for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades at Marcus Garvey Elementary School from 2000 to 2012. Her last year there, she taught a class of 38 students with no assistance. “It was then that I realized I wanted to make a bigger impact by moving into school leadership,” she explains. “I believed that even the most dedicated teacher could only do so much when faced …

Maria SS. della Croce di Triggiano is going all out for the 100th anniversary of its festa with a series of celebrations this fall. Society president Rocco Scavo says the celebration will be expanded to accommodate the special anniversary with around 80 guests flying in from Triggiano, Bari, where the members trace their roots. Scavo was born in Triggiano, a town of around 26,000 people in the Puglia region of southern Italy who embrace the Blessed Mother as their patroness. He often returns for the festa, a three-day affair each September that draws tens of thousands of people. While addressing …

Proud of the Italian ancestry she inherited from her mother’s side of the family, Caitlin Clark has had a transformative impact on women’s basketball as she heads into only her second season in the WNBA. The list of professional athletes who have elevated their sports to the next level is a short one. There are those who broke longstanding records and those who earned “G.O.A.T.” (Greatest of All Time) status in some aspect of their game: Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Mario Andretti and Joe DiMaggio being prime examples. For a rare few, their names have become synonymous with the sport …

Jennifer Adriana LaDelfa has been charged with organizing The Italian Heritage & Culture Committee of New York is commemorating its 50th anniversary, and Jennifer Adriana LaDelfa is chairing the celebration. Since its inception 50 years ago, the Italian Heritage & Culture Committee of New York (IHCC-NY) has endeavored to promote, present and preserve Italian and Italian-American culture. The organization — which serves the Tri-State area centered on New York City encompassing parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — has done so by hosting, coordinating and publicizing myriad special events, concerts, exhibits, lectures and proclamations. Its highest recognition, the …

After being pigeonholed as a personnel clerk by the Army during the Vietnam War, Al Bertolani was able to parlay his pre-military experience into a position as a railroad conductor. One of four children, Al Bertolani was born in Chicago to Albert and Florence Sweeney Bertolani. The family lived in an apartment on Harrison and Claremont Streets. His paternal grandparents, who had emigrated from Lucca in Tuscany, lived below them on the first floor. Family gathered at his grandparents’ home weekly, and Bertolani’s grandmother spent days preparing Sunday dinner for her 10 children and their growing families. “I remember my …

Suffering from maledizioni that tragically shortened their lives, Russo Columbo, Mario Lanza and Bobby Darin captured the imagination of a nation during their brief times in the spotlight. Frank Sinatra lived to 82, Connie Francis to 87 and Tony Bennett to 96. Like many other Italian American singers, they were blessed with longevity. At least three, however, were not. They apparently were living under a maledizione, or curse. Mega-stars Russ Columbo, Mario Lanza and Bobby Darin enjoyed great fame … but only briefly. Each could have had “Tragedy” for a middle name as none lived to 40 and Columbo didn’t …

Starting at age 5 as a dancer and now as dance director for nearly 30 years, Mark DeSanctis has invested a great deal of time, energy and resources into his volunteer work with the Milwaukee-based nonprofit dance group Tradizione Vivente. None of it ever felt like a burden, DeSanctis says. “It is a labor of love,” he explains. “The reward is seeing our traditions continue, watching our kids grow into adult dancers, seeing audiences connect with their heritage, and knowing that something meaningful is being passed from one generation to the next.” Founded in 1945 in Milwaukee, Tradizione Vivente’s repertoire …

San Rocco has been a part of Frank DeFrenza’s life from his childhood in Italy through his adult life in the Chicago area. DeFrenza was born in 1946 in Valenzano, a town outside Bari, Puglia, where San Rocco is the patron saint. “They say because of him the plague didn’t touch Valenzano,” DeFrenza says. San Rocco was a 14th-century French noble who gave away his wealth to live as a pilgrim, miraculously healing plague victims across Italy. After contracting the plague himself, he was saved by a hunting dog that brought him food and licked his wounds in a forest …

For Dr. Veena Carlson, a month-long student exchange trip to Italy as a teenager sparked an interest that eventually launched her career. Today, Carlson is in her 30th year teaching Italian at Dominican University. However, when she first traveled to Italy in 1983, she didn’t speak a word of Italian. Carlson grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, where her parents settled after immigrating to the United States from India in 1965. Although she doesn’t have Italian roots, languages have fascinated her from a young age. “I was always interested in languages,” Carlson says. “Because my parents were immigrants from India, I …