There is no doubt that locating long-lost relatives in Italy has its obstacles. For example, time is a factor because memories fade and people pass. Another force to be reckoned with in Italy is World War II, which destroyed many useful municipal and church records. Some seek their family name at local cemeteries, but that’s usually a dead end — pardon the pun. Finding relatives in Italy can indeed be difficult, but don’t give up. It does happen. Here is a true story of how things worked out for our friends from Chicago who recently visited us in Umbria. The …

NICK BUONICONTI JR. Undersized for a linebacker, he dominated the NFL gridiron for 14 seasons before making a name for himself in the fields of law, business, broadcasting and medicine. The hardest thing about profiling Nick Buoniconti Jr. is having enough space on the page. The man accomplished more in one lifetime than most talented people could accomplish in 10. Let’s start from the beginning. Nick was born on Dec. 5, 1940, in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Nicholas Anthony Buoniconti Sr. and Pasqualina Mercolino, both of whom traced their roots to Naples. Nick Sr. married into a family that owned an …

Music is everywhere in our lives, from commercial jingles, movie soundtracks, radio playlists and television programming to the melodies that waft through dining areas, offices, lobbies and elevators. But who exactly is creating all of that beautiful sound? Beyond a relative handful of superstars, most of it comes from anonymous musicians known as sidemen: a misnomer that implies that they’re only minor contributors. In reality, sidemen are the heart and soul of the music industry, and you need look no further than Don Markese for proof of that. A second-generation Italian American from Franklin Park, Markese traces his Italian roots …