Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Frank T. Concialdi has been elected president of Il Comitato Beato Giovanni Liccio, a Chicago society named in honor of the patron of Caccamo, Sicily. The society has a chapel and clubhouse on Addison Avenue and celebrates its feast day in late July.
Following in the footsteps of his uncle and cousins, Concialdi became a member of the society in 2005. His involvement has allowed him to connect with his parents’ hometown in Italy and the traditions they brought to America, as well as spend time with paesani of all generations.
During his two-year term, Concialdi hopes to expand the membership to include second-, third- and fourth-generation Caccamese Americans, so he can share with them the history of the society and its patron. “I believe it’s important to know where one came from,” he says. “If you know where you came from, it helps you get where you want to go.”
Concialdi’s roots in the Chicago-area Italian-American community run deep. In college, he was a member of GIOIA, the youth organization formed by Fr. Dino Cecconi. He owned Paninoteca Nottoli on North Harlem Avenue in the 1990s and was a member of the first incarnation of the Harlem Avenue Little Italy Business Association. He has served for the last two years as membership chairman of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans.
Professionally, he manages commercial, residential and Airbnb properties, and has been an advisor with USA Mortgage since 2006. To find out more about the society, call Concialdi at 773-491-0880.
