When he was about 10 years old, Lorenzo Fiorentino listened to his uncle Bernardo describe his service in the Italian Army during World War II with pride, but never glory. Those conversations planted the seed that inspired Fiorentino to join the U.S. Army, and later morphed into an unbridled desire to recognize the contribution and sacrifices of his fellow veterans. Fiorentino is the driving force behind the creation of Chicagoland Veterans Campus (CVC) located at 39 Army Trail Boulevard in a 100-year-old former school building owned by St. Paul Lutheran Church. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the CVC is the result of …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Well-known in the larger Italian-American community, he has emerged as a passionate advocate for the region of his birth. When it comes to celebrating and advocating for the beautiful Italian region of Puglia, few in this country can say they’ve dedicated as much time and energy to the cause as Pasquale “Pat” Capriati. A member of the Ufficio di Presidenza del Consiglio Generale dei Pugliesi nel Mondo, president of the Federazione Regione Puglia Chicago, co-founder of Associazione Regionale Pugliese d’America and co-founder and first president of the Confederation of Pugliese Organizations in North America, Capriati has embarked on innumerable projects …

Carla Bruni, a professor at the School of the Art Institute Chicago and preservation specialist for the Chicago Bungalow Association, loves everyday stuff that people don’t notice or find particularly interesting. That’s why she wanted to celebrate “everyday” architecture in the book “Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture,” which she co-authored with illustrator Phil Thompson. Published last year, the book features nearly 200 illustrations by Thompson, an artist and owner of Wonder City Studio, who also wrote the first four chapters of the book. A preservation and sustainability consultant specializing in community engagement and resiliency, Bruni teaches …

Little known outside of Cleveland, the Italian Cultural Garden has been celebrating Italy’s contribution to the world on a grand scale for nearly a century. Michelangelo, Vinci, Dante, Galileo, Marconi, Virgil, Palladio, Giotto, Petrarch, Verdi, Ovidio, Donatello, Bernini. Outside of Cleveland, not many know that a monument honoring these Italian greats is located in the city’s Rockefeller Park. Their statues and carved images are immortalized in the Italian Cultural Garden, a Renaissance-style monument listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Dedicated in 1930, this public space was the center of Italian activities in Cleveland in the 1930s and 1940s. …

Pat Disabato takes to the stage of the The Lyric Theater in Blue Island. After a three-decade career in newspapers, Pat Disabato now works as live events manager for The Lyric Theater in uptown Blue Island, which he describes as having “a vibe like no other.” “It resembles a 1940s Las Vegas cabaret with state-of-the-art sound and lighting,” he says. “We have servers taking drink orders, so folks can enjoy the show without having to leave their seat. They love that.” A native of Blue Island, Disabato grew up wanting to be either a major league baseball player or a …

If she hadn’t trusted her instincts, Carla Cornette would have never embarked on the circuitous path that eventually led her to find her life’s passion: teaching Italian. In fact, that’s precisely her advice for young people. “Listen to your gut!” she says. “If you’re passionate about something, follow that and make it work.” A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Cornette is the director of undergraduate studies for the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Missouri, where she also teaches Italian. Cornette has taught at the University of Missouri (nicknamed “Mizzou”) for the last three years after teaching …

A stockbroker turned actor who was “discovered” on a train ride into work, Michael Cavalieri now focuses exclusively on Sicilian and Italian culture as a writer and director. New York native Michael Cavalieri is an actor, writer and director who has made his desire to elevate storytelling about Sicilian-American culture the leitmotif of his work. Cavalieri made his directorial debut with “Ritornato” (2021), a short film about a man who travels to Sicily to fulfill a promise to his dying mother and ends up discovering a life-changing family secret. His award-winning documentary “La Porta Dell’Inferno” (2022) focuses on child laborers …