Carla Simonini

Carla A. Simonini served as the Paul and Ann Rubino Associate Professor and Founding Director of Italian American Studies at Loyola University Chicago from 2018-2024. Previously, she taught at Brown University, the University of Rhode Island, Skidmore College, and Youngstown State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Italian Studies from Brown University, and her research focuses on contemporary Italian literature and constructs of italianità in American and Italian American literature.

Remembering Judge Caprio

Carla Simonini August 29, 2025 0

At the 10:30 a.m. Mass with my parents at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Narragansett, Rhode Island, in August, I noticed the empty pew where Judge Frank Caprio had long sat with his family. Knowing his deep Catholic faith and his battle with pancreatic cancer, I feared the worst. On Aug. 20, his family announced his passing at age 88. I interviewed Judge Caprio in the summer of 2023. It wasn’t our first meeting, but it was the first time I was welcomed into his home. I was nervous to enter the world of a man who was …