Among the many champions of the Italian community in Chicago is the Rev. Stan Czarnecki, a Polish-born Jesuit priest who fell in love with Italy after living in Palermo and Rome as a young adult. Czarnecki, who speaks Italian fluently, celebrates Mass in Italian on a regular basis at St. William Church and St. Francis Borgia Church in Chicago, and occasionally at Casa Italia in suburban Stone Park. “Whenever there is a request, I go,” he says. He also does bilingual masses, alternating readings in English and Italian, and giving parts of homilies in both languages. Czarnecki has been working …

Chicago native Patrick Bertoletti made national headlines on July 4 when he won the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest by downing a whopping 58 hot dogs in 10 minutes. The 39-year-old achieved what is considered the “holy grail” of competitive eating among about 70 events held annually by Major League Eating. Bertoletti’s records over the years include inhaling 10.63 lbs. of corned beef and cabbage in 10 minutes, 44 cherry kolaches in 8 minutes,7.5 lbs. of fried catfish in 10 minutes, 9 lbs. of boneless buffalo wings in 10 minutes, 47 glazed and cream-filled donuts in 5 minutes, …

Growing up watching old kung-fu martial arts movies, Thomas Glielmi started teaching himself how to do flips from trees, fences and garages. “I liked the adrenaline rush,” the 59-year-old recalls. That drive led Glielmi to join a men’s gymnastics team in high school, which set him on a course to forge an uber-successful career as a gymnastics coach over the last two decades. As head coach for Stanford University men’s gymnastics since 2002, Glielmi guided his athletes to clinch seven NCAA championships, including the last five. As head coach for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team, Glielmi helped lead Team USA …

Though he missed going to the 2024 Olympics by a fraction of a second, the progress Vincent Ciattei has made point toward a promising future in middle-distance running. After years of grueling training and long-harbored dreams, falling just short of making the U.S. Olympic team can deal a devastating blow to any athlete. While it certainly was a blow for Vincent Ciattei, it also spelled a qualitative leap in performance that has opened the door to exciting new opportunities for his track-and-field career. The 29-year-old suburban Baltimore native finished fourth in the 1,500-meter race at the U.S. Olympic Trials in …

Beginning his professional life as a product designer for Sears, Joseph Burlini took a leap of faith into the world of sculpting and has never looked back. A practicing artist for 50-plus years, Joseph Burlini has made a name for himself by creating inventive kinetic sculptures and soaring public works. A native of Morton Grove, Burlini has a degree in industrial design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spent six years designing for Sears, Roebuck and Co. before pivoting to making art in a variety of metals and other materials. Burlini’s works have been commissioned by …

Running for village clerk of Addison never crossed Lucille Zucchero’s mind, but the nine-term veteran of the position says that she has loved her job from day one. As liaison between the village’s staff and board of trustees, Zucchero has helped countless people navigate their way through a variety of issues.  After 35 years on the job, people recognize her when she’s out and about. “I’m frequently stopped by residents with questions, concerns and opinions that I bring to the staff and board,” she says. “My relationship and trust with residents is very important to me.” Zucchero grew up in …

Antonino Bondì’s teaching career stemmed from an unlikely place: a goal of practicing pharmacy in Italy, where he’d always hoped to live. Nowadays, Bondì teaches Italian 1 and 2, Italian honors 3 and 4, and AP Italian at Rolling Meadows High School and is a diving coach at Prospect High School, both in suburban Chicago. For the past year, he’s also served as president of the Midwest Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI), an organization open to past, current and future teachers from the private or public sector, as well as college students who are studying …

Undaunted by a catastrophic injury, Mario DeMatteo has carved a place for himself as a graphic novelist and organic farmer in no small part because of his faith. Mario DeMatteo is the founder of Beartruth Books, a Christian comic-book ministry, and the co-founder of the Agrarian Institute, a nonprofit educational farm in Bonsall, California. He also uses a wheelchair, after suffering a spinal cord injury in a swimming pool accident at age 20. DeMatteo, who lives in Carlsbad, California, with his wife, Karla Cordero, talks to Fra Noi about his passion for comic books, his efforts to make healthy food …

  Defining her identity and pinpointing where she feels most at home — in Italy or the United States — has never been easy for Raffaella Spilotro, the director of the children’s summer camp at Casa Italia in Stone Park. That’s because, for the first nine years of her life, Spilotro grew up in Capurso, a small town in the province of Bari, Puglia, with her parents speaking only Italian. Her mother and father came with their families to America in the 1960s, met and married here, and decided to move back to Italy when she was 2 months hold. …

Like other social clubs felled by the worldwide pandemic, the Burgio Woman’s Club could have dissolved in recent years. Instead, the 71-year-old nonprofit organization based in the Chicago area is experiencing a resurgence of new activity. “Our members really worked hard to keep it moving forward, and now we are stronger and more active than ever before,” says club President Annmarie Parisi. “It is a community of women, brought together for the love of our town of Burgio and Sicily. We share friendships, family, history and traditions, and also want to learn more and keep alive the customs that we …