Our Good Vibes feature spotlights websites, blogs, videos and podcast from around the world that celebrate Italy’s inimitable spirit. If you have a favorite online offering you’d like to share, send it to info@franoi.com. For more, follow us on Facebook. Pizzarelli channels Bennett, Mercer in latest EP Every great performance deserves an encore, and John Pizzarelli’s salute to Tony Bennett is no exception. For the follow-up EP to his latest CD, “Dear Mr. Bennett,” Pizzarelli recorded yet another Bennett standard, “I Wanna be Around” (to Pick up the Pieces).” Slowly swinging, the song combines romance with more than a touch …

Bonamassa rocks Ravinia Legendary blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 12 at Ravinia. Hailed as one of the greatest blues axemen of his generation, Bonamassa has played with the likes of Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, Buddy Guy and many others. Launching his career at age 12, when he opened for B.B. King, Bonamassa has released 17 solo studio albums since 2000 and holds the record for most No. 1 blues albums with 29. He has received five Grammy Award nominations. “His versatile blues style is both phenomenal and effortless,” according to Review magazine. “The emotional …

Pelago Cafe, an Italian spot that recently opened at 325 Waukegan Ave. in north suburban Highwood, celebrates a family’s heritage and culinary traditions based in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. The cafe is owned by cousins Mada Ugolini-Hitchmough and Ruthie Amidei, and its name honors two neighboring towns, Sant’Anna Pelago and Pievepelago, “where generations of family, food and tradition shaped the values carried forward today,” the business’ website states. “When our families emigrated from Italy, they planted their roots in Highwood. We both live here today and love this community deeply,” Hitchmough and Amidei told Patch. “Highwood has such a rich appreciation …

Founded in 2022 by a former McDonald’s executive and his family, Lantern Pizza Co. at 1420 Ogden Ave. in Downers Grove has developed such a following that it expanded over the summer, enclosing a patio to add 65 more seats to the 38-seat eatery, the Daily Herald reported. Former McDonald’s Executive Chef and Vice President of Culinary Innovation Dan Coudreaut said he embarked on his pizza venture because he missed the immediacy of making food for people in front of him. The menu features handcrafted 12-inch pizzas made with fresh ingredients and cooked in a brick oven For more, click …

The Italian-American restaurant Void, located at 2937 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago, was among the Chicago Tribune’s 2026 Critic’s Choice winners. Void is best known on social media for its Spaghetti Uh-O’s, which comes in a can with a custom label, and is made with imported pasta topped with house-made sauce that’s been slowly cooked for six hours, the Chicago Tribune reported. “There’s a ‘Wow’ every time somebody gets the Spaghetti Uh-O’s for the first time, and it doesn’t get old,” co-owner and chef Tyler Hudec told the newspaper. For more, click here. https://voidchicago.com/  

One hundred years after the bestselling cookbook “The Talisman of Happiness” was first published in Italy, the full English translation of its nearly 1,700 recipes is now available. Its author was chef, cooking instructor and magazine writer Ada Boni (1891-1973), who unified the culinary traditions of Italy’s 20 regions for the first time. In 1915, she and her husband founded the food magazine Preziosa, and a few years later Boni opened a cooking school for aristocratic Roman women. In 1925 she crowdsourced her readers and students, telling them that if 500 committed to buying her cookbook, she would create it. …

The Global Penitent, a Substack blog focused on Catholic history and traditions, has ranked the Feast of Maria SS. Lauretana among the top 10 Italian feasts in the country. “A distinctive feature is the ‘Flight of the Angels,’ a tradition brought from Sicily dating back centuries,” the post notes. “This dramatic ceremony has become the feast’s signature event. This feast is one of two that still maintain this tradition.” During the flight, young girls dressed as angels are suspended above an enthroned painting of the Madonna and Child, where they sing a song of praise to her in Italian. Celebrating …

U.S. Forest Service veteran Adam Bianchi has been appointed general superintendent of the Forest Preserves of Cook County following nomination by Forest Preserves President Toni Preckwinkle and approval by the Board of Commissioners. “Over the last 15 years, the Cook County forest preserves has transformed as an institution, becoming a leader in ecological restoration in a highly developed landscape, in connecting a diverse population to the wonders of nature, and in operations and transparency,” Preckwinkle said. “Adam Bianchi’s experience, energy and perspective are an outstanding fit as general superintendent for the next chapter of the preserves.” Prior to his current …

The Arcolian Dental Arts Society board unanimously voted to hold most of its 2026-2027 meetings at Casa Italia in Stone Park. “It’s conveniently located for our membership, but more significantly, we feel it’s important to support the Casa by having our meetings at this historic venue, our cultural center,” says Arcolian President Dr. Charles Martello. “The room is wonderful and it fits our membership perfectly, and the Casa offers four fantastic caterers to choose from, so it’s a win-win situation.” For more, click here.

Michelle DiSilvestro has been named senior attorney at the Chicago-based law firm of Romanucci & Blandin. In that role, she focuses her practice on medical malpractice and other complex catastrophic-injury matters, including wrongful death and serious personal-injury cases. An attorney at the firm since 2021, DiSilvestro has served as a co-chair of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Young Lawyers’ Division for the past three years and is a member of the Justinian Society of Lawyers Executive Committee, where she has served a three-year term. She earned her juris doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois Chicago School of …