When Gabriella Esperson married Ryan Nelson, a fourth-generation farmer from Wisconsin, the seeds were sown for a new line of skin care products.

“I’ve always had a passion for animals — ever since I was a little girl,” Gabriella writes on her website. “Being married to a farmer who shares the same interests as me is a dream come true!”

Ryan gave Gabriella a Mini Nubian goat for their second anniversary. One animal became a small herd, and Gabriella soon found herself wondering what to do with the surplus milk being produced.

Internet research led to the founding of Down Home Soap, a company dedicated to creating a variety of products from the nutrient-rich milk of the family’s Mini Nubian herd.

The goats all have names, and Gabriella and her two daughters milk them by hand, feeding them homegrown flowers, herbs and vegetables planted in organic soil. All of the company’s products are 100 percent natural, and their labels are plastic-free and recyclable. A few of the soaps even contain embedded wildflower seeds that can be planted at home once they’re washed from the bar.

Fragrance combinations include grapefruit and rose, hickory and clove, and pine and mandarin spice. Other products include milk baths, herbal salves, lotions, lip balms and pottery soap dishes.

Gabriella is the daughter of Gina and Jim Esperson and the granddaughter of Agatha and the late Nick Giordano.

For details, click here.

Mina Amendola has vivid memories of travelling as a child with her family to their charming ancestral hometown of Altomonte, Cosenza in Calabria. In those early journeys, the die was cast.

“I always felt connected to Italy, and I knew that I wanted to spend my career helping others make those same connections,” the Midwest Director of Sales and Marketing for Perillo Tours explains.

As the public face of the Italian Government Travel Office for more than two decades, she dedicated herself to building bridges between the USA and the land of her ancestors. Through her work, she had plenty of opportunity to interact with the family that has been proudly running Perillo Tours for the last 75 years. 

Amendola’s name has become synonymous with promoting Italy in the USA. The only company she was willing to associate her name with was Perillo Tours. 

“Italy is synonymous with warmth and family, and Perillo definitely gives you that warm family feeling as the leading tour operator to Italy.”

“They’re a fantastic family and I love the fact that the fourth generation is now getting involved and continuing that legacy,” she says. “I’m enthusiastic about sharing their story and their services with the Midwest.”

The company’s bread and butter is their longstanding relationships with local travel agents, who in turn offer Perillo’s services to their own customers. Amendola continues to strengthen those relationships in the Midwest.

“There’s a peace of mind when you book a trip through Perillo,” Amendola explains. “ We offer 24-hour emergency service abroad. We’ve been in business 

for so long that everybody knows us and will perform above and beyond for Perillo customers.”

“We offer A to Z Italy (through Italy Vacations)!” Amendola enthuses. “I’m particularly excited about introducing this option to the Midwest, as we just launched a new online booking system for custom travel.” Perillo can help groups customize tours to anywhere in the world.

She also sings the praises of Perillo’s Hawaii tour after experiencing it firsthand. “I went to Hawaii through Perillo recently and I was blown away,” Amendola reports. “The value and what you are getting in this luxury vacation is incredible with a la carte meals at five-star restaurants and a true authentic Hawaiian experience with Italian flare”.

Perillo’s new product this year will be Spain. “It’s an exceptional product at an exceptional value, just like everything else that Perillo has to offer.”

Mina can be reached directly at mina@perillotours.com 

For more information about Perillo Tours, click here.

A 45-year veteran of the industry, Caporale grew up on Taylor Street in Chicago and moved with his family to Elmwood Park in 1963. He graduated from St. Mel High School and attended Triton College for two years, completing his undergraduate career with a degree in marketing from Northern Illinois University in 1971.

Seeking work in sales after graduating, he faced a tight market. Fate took a turn for the better when he met the owner of DeMoon Realty, who encouraged him to join the firm. He worked for DeMoon realty for more than a decade before opening his my own office in Elmwood in 1983.

“In real estate, you earn what you’re worth rather than what the job is worth,” he shares. “The harder you work, the more you can earn.”

Though his office is in Elmwood Park, Caporale is licensed to sell throughout the state and has had listings that have ranged from the Wisconsin border to DeKalb to Northwest Indiana. “Realtors have to be self-motivated,” he explains. “You have to like working with people and talking with people you’ve just met. Business won’t come to you, you have to go out and get it.”

Caporale is involved with a host of community and charitable organizations, including the Montclare Elmwood Park Lions Club and Kiwanis Club, the Knights of Columbus Council #537 and the Columbian Club of Chicago. He is the treasurer at Casa Italia, a director of the Grand Corridor Chamber of Commerce and a member of a bocce league in Elmwood Park.

Caporale Realty Group is located 7646 W. North Ave. in Elmwood Park. For details, call 708-456-1919 or visit http://caporalerealty.com.

Frankie’s Deli has had a lot to celebrate lately.

The venerable Italian food emporium marked its 50th anniversary with a five-day culinary extravaganza in late November that culminated in a visit from Italian Senator Renato Turano.

“My family has been doing business with Turano Baking Co. for half a century and it was important for us to make them a part of our celebration,” says Frank Conforti Jr., son of company founders Frank Sr. and Connie. “We were truly honored that Senator Turano flew all the way in from Italy to join us!”

As icing on the birthday cake, cbslocal.com, the website of CBS Chicago, recently tapped Frankie’s lasagna as one of the five best in the Chicago area.

“It takes us four to five hours to make a batch of this,” Frank Jr. told reporter Jacky Runice. “In order for us to make every pan the same, we have only one person make it. Nick has been with us for 18 years and my mom Connie still comes in every Friday just to make sure it’s up to her standards.”

Frank Sr. and Connie, who celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2013, opened the original deli and Italian specialty store in 1964 at Belmont and Central in Chicago, moving the business to Yorktown Shopping Center in 1976.

As the popularity of their business grew, so did their need for space, prompting the move to their current location on the north end of the shopping center near Highland Avenue.

“We moved to this location because the other store was too small,” Frank Jr. says. “We have customers who were here the first day we opened who still come in.”

MARY: REMOVE THE RED IF YOU NEED TO

Frank Jr. runs the business today, and though Frank Sr. and Connie are “semi-retired,” they remain actively involved.

“It’s been hard work,” Frank Sr. says. “There are no shortcuts when you’re serving the public. The reason the people keep coming back is the good food and service we offer. Everything is made right here. We have homemade sausage, lasagna, beef.”

And that’s only the beginning. Frankie’s offers 100 different pastas, 25 brands of tomatoes and 20 different bottles of olive oil to choose from, along with bottled wine and a host of other imported and domestic specialty items.

The deli is stocked with premium meats and cheeses, as well as homemade mostaccoli, stuffed shells, eggplant and veal Parmigiana, cavatelli, ravioli, meatballs and manicotti. There are meat, marinara and red clam sauces as well as homemade soup and desserts.

And then there are the sandwiches, which attract the lunchtime crowd in droves.

“The lines are long, but we want to serve all of our customers and get them out the door fast,” says Frank Jr. Frankie’s Deli sells about 300 sandwiches daily. “If we didn’t, they wouldn’t be coming back.”

What keeps Frank Sr. and Connie coming back is the joy that their food brings to their countless customers.

“We get many compliments and letters from the people being pleased with our food,” she says. “We should put them all in a frame. It makes you feel good.”

Frankie’s Deli

4 Yorktown Shopping Center

Lombard, IL 60148

(630) 627-7977

www.frankiesdeliyorktown.com

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-lasagna-in chicago/#commentshttp://www.frankiesdeliyorktown.com

“You can buy something cheap and small for $16,000, or you can buy something that has Italian heritage and style,” says Carmelo Scalzo, vice president of FIAT of Chicago. “With the FIAT 500, you get the best of all worlds. It’s affordable, it’s great on gas and it has that special Italian flair.”

Nobody in the metropolitan area knows FIAT like Carmelo and his father, company President Antonio Scalzo. Antonio serviced FIATs and Alfa Romeos as a teen in Italy, and he ran the most successful FIAT/Alfa Romeo dealerships in the nation from 1989 until the company withdrew the two lines from the U.S. market in the early ’90s. Carmelo spent his formative years at his dad’s dealership. “I guess you could say we have FIAT in our blood,” he says.

The father-and-son team has been running Volvo of Oak Park since 1995, elevating it to No. 1 in several key categories. When Fiat decided to re-enter the market in 2011, they were among the first in line to sign up for a dealership.

“Because FIAT bought Chrysler, Chrysler dealers were the first to be offered franchises,” Carmelo explains. “But we approached them from the very beginning, they saw our history with the brand and knew we’d be committed once again to the brand’s success in the U.S. Now, we’re one of the few stand-alone FIAT dealerships in the country.”

The doors to FIAT of Chicago opened last July, and the dealership has been skyrocketing up the charts ever since. With one of the largest inventories in the United States, they recently emerged as the No. 1 Fiat dealership in the Midwest. The location of the dealership has been key to its meteoric rise. “We’re right on Randolph Street off the Kennedy Expressway, on the edge of the Loop,” Carmelo points out.

Don’t let the similarity of the cars in FIAT of Chicago’s sleek, modern showroom fool you. The options are endless.

The entry level FIAT 500 Pop starts at $16,000, gets 40 miles per gallon, and comes standard with air conditioning, power windows, seven air bags and an adaptive brake system. The 500 Sport boasts sports suspension, steering and seats; a premium sound system; and 16-inch aluminum alloy wheels. The Lounge comes with Sirius radio, automatic temperature control, fog lamps and a fixed-glass roof. And the Turbo has a host of sports features, high-performance brakes and a 135-horsepower twin turbo engine.

The top-of-the-line Abarth is equipped with a 160-horsepower engine with a turbo boost gauge, electronic stability control, an MP3 player and hands-free Bluetooth, high-performance bucket seats, dual exhaust and bi-halogen headlights. To top it off, a full day of training with a professional driver comes with every Abarth purchase.

All models except the Abarth come in manual or automatic, with options that include a leather interior, sunroof and cabriolet convertible top. Customer rebates of up to $2,500 and zero percent financing for up to 60 months are available, and you even receive a $25 Visa gift card when you COME IN FOR A test drive.

When Carmelo looks to the horizon, he sees nothing but blue skies. “The FIAT 500L (a four-door that’s 42 percent bigger than the 500) will be arriving this summer, and the all-electric 500e, which gets 108 miles per gallon, is due later in the year,” he says. “And FIAT has told us that they will be reintroducing Alfa Romeo to the U.S. market by the end of the year. We can’t wait!”

Alfa Romeo & FIAT of Chicago
645 W. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60661
312-902-3428
www.FIATchicago.com

“It was a real surprise when it happened,” says Luigi Scola, who co-owns CARSTAR Scola’s Collision Center in Brookfield with his brother Anthony. “We go to the CARSTAR conference every year, and there are 440 nationwide stores. It makes us feel very prestigious and very proud that we won it.”

Franchisee of the Year is the highest award in the CARSTAR system and it’s very difficult to win. It means keeping everyone happy — not just customers, but also the insurance companies that send in clients as well. The more satisfied insurance companies are, the more business they send in. But that also creates a challenge to keep up standards as volume grows.

No problem for Luigi and Anthony, perfectionists who are always striving to improve their game. As Luigi likes to say, “I want to get things done today, not yesterday.” CARSTAR ranks its franchises from Tier 1 to Tier 4 based on advanced systems training and group gaining standards. Scola’s CARSTAR sits atop the company as the only franchise to currently earn Tier 4 status.

The Scola family tradition in auto body repair dates to before they joined CARSTAR in 2003. In years previous, they operated the shop with their father, Ferdinando, who opened it in 1991 and was in business more than 40 years before retiring when the duo teamed up with CARSTAR.

“When he first started it, we came up with a slogan, ‘We Repair with Care.’ He wanted to make sure we treated everyone like family,” Scola says.

But even the most loyal family member would have a tough time keeping up with the Scolas when it comes to attention to detail. With every car that comes in, for example, they take close to two-dozen pictures that document the entire repair process. “And if the cars have hood chips or body chips from stones, we’ll touch them up for the customer and make sure everything’s clean and shiny and ready for them to pick up.”

CARSTAR franchises, which are independently owned and operated, routinely score in the mid- to upper 90 percent range for satisfaction. Scola’s Collision rated almost perfectly, with a 98.9 customer service index. The Scolas run the place like a well-oiled auto, with 15 employees split into three teams that oversee bodywork, refinishing and administrative paperwork and tracking.

In the final stages, “A quality inspector looks at every vehicle,” Scola says. “As it goes through the repair process and is washed and cleaned up, he grabs the repair order and estimate and goes through every line. He makes sure everything was done and done correctly.” That precision might explain why business has nearly tripled since 2003, from $1 million to closing in on $3 million this year.

For the Scola brothers, it all traces back to taking care of family — something they saw and learned growing up as Italians. Luigi and Tony’s parents hailed from Calabria and the brothers, like their dad, have helped fuel and drive the Calabresi in America Organization.

“We’re very proud of our heritage,” Luigi says.

CARSTAR Scola’s Collision Center
9110 Ogden Ave.
Brookfield, IL 60513
708-485-7600
scolas@CARSTARUSA.com

It is a town made up largely of European immigrants, first- and second-generation Italians and Polish, hard-working people who take care of their families and each other.

It might be easy to miss Norridge if you’re not looking for it, but there is no missing what has been happening on Lawrence Avenue just east of Cumberland Avenue for nearly 30 years.

When Cumberland Chapels Funeral Home opened its doors in August 1985, its owners did so with equal parts legacy and ground-floor innovation, risk and hope.

“The first call that came in was a request for one of the directors to rent another funeral home,” co-owner Tony Lupo recalls of the initial uncertainty surrounding the business. “We were able to laugh about it later, but at the time it was a pretty large, daunting operation we had attempted. Everything was on the line for us.”

Since that summer, Cumberland Chapels has hosted nearly 20,000 families, supporting the community and honoring the loved ones of the many families who have trusted them along the way.

For generations, the funeral business in Chicago always has been about fierce loyalty and mutual respect between the families who ran the business and the families who brought their grief and loss to them. It’s a unique business, one fraught with complications in today’s modern world of spread-out families, rapid technological advancements and the ever-present demand for convenience.

It’s nothing like buying a car or a TV. The customer doesn’t get to bring something tangible home. According to Anthony Lupo Jr., who learned well from his father’s 40-plus years of experience in funeral service, “We’ve always concentrated on giving something valuable to our families: a positive experience they can hold onto at a time when things seem to be slipping away.”

“Service. It’s all about serving, whether we’re talking about the living or the deceased. That’s what sets us apart. That’s what we’re built for here,” continues Louis Martino, who along with his cousin and fellow owner Peter Martino, carry on their family’s legacy as third-generation funeral directors.

“That’s why we continue to improve our facility year after year,” Peter says in reference to their newly remodeled lounge area. “We know that this building is a big part of the funeral experience. There’s a reason it’s always been referred to as a ‘home.’”

Service is something the owners always have stressed to members of their staff, who are much more like an extended family. Several have been a part of the Cumberland family since they began their careers as mortuary students 20 years ago, sharing weddings and births along the way.

The owners’ model for success comes from their strong belief in the value of family, their desire to protect the dignity of each family and to give back as much as they have received.

That’s why families who were once local come back again and again from the far reaches of the suburbs and city. They continue to trust in a business that some see as outdated because they know what they will receive when they walk through the doors of Cumberland Chapels: respect, honesty, and the experience and environment necessary to celebrate and mourn the greatest gift of all, life.

Cumberland Chapels Funeral Home
8300 W. Lawrence Ave.
Norridge, Ill. 60706
708-456-8300
www.cumberlandchapels.com

“In the past 11 years, we have grown the business by 75 percent,” says DiBiase, whose parents are of Calabrese and Neapolitan ancestry respectively. (Cervone has roots in Naples, too.) “We are probably the second largest elevator inspection company in the Chicago area.”

And if there’s anything they prize after safety, it’s personal service. “We do as much as we can for our customers,” DiBiase says. “We personalize our service for them in terms of scheduling; we try to make things easier for them.”

DiBiase and Cervone came by their passion after years of experience working with elevators on the Near West Side. Both were elevator mechanics for the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 2 prior to entering their current business.

Elevator Inspection Services has 17 inspectors on staff, along with two salespeople and three office staffers. The majority of their inspectors have 35 years experience in the elevator industry. Cervone oversees field operations, while DiBiase handles office operations.

But if they’re shorthanded, both bosses can get out in the field and perform elevator inspections. (When problems are found, the clients then turn to third parties for the necessary repairs.)

And talk about hitting the heights: Some of Chicago’s tallest and proudest buildings are on their client list. “We do inspections for the Hancock Tower, Trump Tower, Wrigley Field and O’Hare Airport,” DiBiase says, “but we also service the small customer. We treat everyone the same.”

That’s in part because DiBiase sees the trade through the eyes of someone who truly cares about elevator safety. He and his crew inspect elevators for code and safety violations, and print the certificates of inspection for municipalities outside Chicago. Right now, 45 municipalities retain their services, including Evanston, Oak Brook, Skokie and Rosemont.

“We’re elevator men; we are not salespeople,” DiBiase says. “We’ve built elevators and maintained them, and we can identify an unsafe condition with or without a code book.”

Some situations, however, transcend any municipal law or mechanical flaw. “Our mission is safety, and all of our men, with all of their experience before working for us, have come across close calls at one time or another. So they are safety minded, perhaps to a fault.”

Or perhaps not. DiBiase is understandably proud that his company has completed tens of thousands of inspections since its founding without a single accident resulting from a missed detail on the job.

In one out of four elevators with problems, the issue is an emergency phone malfunction. “The elevator can run properly, but if someone gets stuck in an elevator on a Friday evening, they could be stuck there all weekend long,” DiBiase says.

And even though he’s a through-and-through professional, DiBiase also takes such matters very personally. “When I see a defect in an elevator, I think of my family. If they were in that elevator, they could get hurt.”

Elevator Inspection Services Co., Inc.
745 McClintock Drive, Suite 235
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
630-323-6541
www.elevator-inspection.com

That the move took more than a century to make is a testament to the dedication and vision of the four generations that have run the oldest Italian food importer in the Chicago area.

“It was hard to leave the old factory,” Vice President Sue Formusa Johnson admits. “It’s one of the oldest buildings in the city, we had relatives who were born upstairs, and it was a focal point on Grand Avenue.”

“But we were so cramped for space,” Sue’s husband, President Bob Johnson, notes. “We operated out of 12,000 square feet on three floors in Chicago, and now we have 25,000 square feet on a single level.”

The company now has plenty of room to operate and grow. But their spacious new entry area is proof positive that the descendents of Vincenzo Formusa have no intention of leaving the past behind.

Spread across the far wall is a treasure trove of photos and other memorabilia, including a certificate of appreciation presented by La Camera di Commercio Italiana di Chicago to Vincenzo in 1934, and the Stella della Solidarietà Italiana that the president of Italy awarded to Vincenzo’s son, Peter, in 1951. (Father and son both earned the title of Cavaliere from the Italian government along the way.) “The wall reminds us of where we came from,” Sue shares.

Like so many companies before and since, V. Formusa was launched by a visionary who noticed a need and then rose to meet it. An immigrant from Termini Immerese who helped other Italian immigrants come to America, Vincenzo Formusa listened when his clients complained about the lack of Italian food products on this side of the Atlantic. “My grandfather decided to use his contacts in Italy to bring pasta, tomatoes and olive oil to the United States,” Sue explains.

Vincenzo’s son, Peter, expanded the factory and added product lines. And after Bob Johnson married Peter’s daughter, Sue, in 1972, Bob joined the ranks of the family business, working his way up from the very bottom. “I did everything from packaging products to sweeping the floors,” Bob recalls.

Though she fondly remembers labeling bottles of giardiniera for a quarter a day as a kid, Sue’s tenure with the company didn’t officially start until the couple’s four children — Jessica, Joanna, Jeffrey and Jacqueline — were in school. “It was great to have the flexibility to work part time when the kids were growing up,” she explains. “After they went off to college, I came to work full time.”

With Jeff now serving as general manager and Joey as director of sales, the company has settled comfortably into its fourth generation.

Today, it’s hard to enter a local Italian grocery store without running across the distinctive Marconi label that serves as the company’s public face. Among the dozens of products on the current list are vegetable and olive oils; vinegars and salad dressings; giardiniera and peppers; olives and condiments; herbs and spices; canned tomatoes; and a wide assortment of antipasti.

The company’s giardiniera has achieved legendary status, adding kick to hot dogs and beef sandwiches across the Midwest and around the country. Local and national sales are boosted by a website frequented by legions of individual and corporate fans.

“We do business with companies from coast to coast,” Bob explains with pride, “and we have so many customers who moved away from Chicago who buy their giardiniera from our website because they can’t find anything like it where they now live.”

The same attributes that have kept V. Formusa Co. going strong for more than a century, will undoubtedly continue to do so for generations to come.

“It’s the quality of our products, the quality of our service,” Sue explains. “We have a lot of repeat business, and you only earn that by doing a lot of things right.”

V. Formusa Co.
2150 Oxford Road
Des Plaines, Ill. 60018
847-813-6040
www.marconi-foods.com

Vincent and Joseph Lucania opened their first funeral home in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood at 409 W. North Ave. The business grew, and Vincent moved west in the 1950s, following the migration of other Italian Americans to the area. He opened Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home’s current location at 6901 W. Belmont Ave. in 1957, and there it stayed. The venerable funeral home marked its 80th anniversary in June.

“All my life I’ve been in the business,” says Vincent’s son Joseph, 69. “My father started when he was 18, and my uncle when he was 20. In the 1930s, people had wakes in their homes, and funeral homes were not used much. But coming into the 1940s, that started to change.”

The Lucania brothers remodeled their North Avenue facility in the 1940s, building four large chapels and installed air conditioning — unheard of back then.

While Vincent’s brother stayed at the North Avenue location (he ran it until he passed away in 1985), Vincent moved just three blocks east of Elmwood Park. Montclair-Lucania occupies a city block, and can accommodate more than 100 cars.

Inside, it resembles a luxury hotel, thanks to a renovation completed at the start of 2013. “It took more than a year to do, and we’re talking about furnishings, rugs, drapery, painting … everything,” Lucania says.

With the renovation, a new downstairs lounge area now contains two brand-new Samsung refrigerators, two food preparation islands and ample seating space. The lobby is the soul of elegance, with its coffee-colored walls and plentiful light, though some things haven’t changed.

As one of the area’s largest funeral facilities, Montclair-Lucania can accommodate two services at once, with the two parties utilizing separate entrances and exits, never coming in contact with each other. It has two heating systems, 80 tons worth of air conditioning and a main chapel that holds more than 400 people when fully opened. (Montclair-Lucania has a total of seven chapel spaces with a total capacity of 600.)

And the Blossom Room still contains twin wall murals Vincent Lucania commissioned in the 1950s that depict winding branches bearing fragile white blossoms. He hired an Italian artist, remembered today by his signature, “Desario.”

Speaking of paintings, Vincent’s portrait hangs high in the lobby. He passed away in 1983, but for his son, it’s very much as though his father is still in the building, watching over the magnificent edifice with four Corinthian columns out front.

“He put everything he had into it — his ideas, his designs,” Joseph says. “He was very much oriented to the families he served; it was a priority to treat them like family. He wanted to give the Italian people the best that could be offered. The hope is to continue, keep the tradition going and take care of the families we serve today.”

Montclair-Lucania
6901 W. Belmont Ave.
Chicago, Ill. 60634
773-622-9300