Columns

I grew up, as I’m sure many of you did, with a lot of Italian relatives who married into your family line, but some were a little different. There might be a godmother who doesn’t quite connect to the tree or folks who we call our “uncles” and “aunts,” but were they really related? “Who was Cooma Micheline? Is she a cousin of Nonna?” Nobody seemed to remember. More on them later. For now, let’s focus on actual branches, however tenuously connected to the trunk. The relatives who married in Italy typically are from the same town, or from towns …

How often do we say when a loved one passes away, “I wish I had talked to them more about what they did when they were young”? Those regrets can only be averted when the person is still with us. I’ve always said that everyone has stories to tell but you have to find the time listen and you have to know what to say. I’m very fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people with wonderful stories that are there for the asking. In that vein, when Vilma dal Corrobo asked if I wanted to interview her 108-year-old …

You have been saving and saving for years and you’re finally at the closing table signing a huge packet of paperwork. Congratulations! You are now a homeowner! You unlock the door for the first time without your Realtor by your side and it soon sets in — buyer’s remorse — but unlike that coffee pot you purchased last week, you can’t return it for a full refund. To avoid this all-to-common scenario, start with a checklist of what you truly need in your next home. The first thing you need to do is tune out the chatter. As soon as …

There are many ways to get your daily news updates these days. Facebook and Twitter have a lot of news blurbs. Each TV news network has apps and updates, as do the local TV stations. But I’m an old fashioned guy who wakes up in the morning before work, opens the garage door, walks out to the driveway and picks up a fresh copy of the daily newspaper. About three seconds later, I realize I’m not wearing any shoes or socks … Being a genealogist, I don’t begin the morning newspaper with the headlines, local news or sports section. Yes, …

As we recount the passing days of winter and embark upon a new season of “What’s new?” it’s time to look forward to that changeling of seasons known as spring. Winter tapers off and we begin to relax as our wardrobe evolves from protective clothing to a more welcoming style. (No real Chicagoan is concerned about style during the cold months when comfort and warmth is the goal!) I invite you to walk in the footsteps of your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends — and your youth. This is the perfect time of year to come visit …

The Chicago area is blessed with nearly 100 Italian American groups and institutions that meet regularly and host more than 300 special events each year. Fra Noi is committed to shining a spotlight on these activities in our magazine, but that commitment comes with a challenge: how to cover a community that vast within the fiscal and physical confines of the publication. Through trial and error over the past quarter century, we’ve devised a system for accomplishing that, and I’d like to shed light on it now. Since Fra Noi doesn’t have the funds to send photographers and reporters out …

Having lost his father, first to divorce and then to an early death, Joseph Garofalo’s life was transformed when a Fra Noi profile led him to his extended family by his Dad’s second marriage. During the past year, I was reunited with my long lost family as a result of an article Leonard Amari wrote about me that was published in Fra Noi. The following describes how this happened. My parents were divorced when I was a baby. My mother and her parents raised me. My father, Denphon (“Danny”) remarried and had three more sons, my half-brothers, Mark, Chris, and …

An Italian American language instructor from Nashville, Tenn., Rita Richardson has embarked on a global campaign to restore a gorgeous baroque chapel in a small Tuscan town. “No one in the U.S. is going to care about your abandoned little church in Italy,” our priest told us. “I wouldn’t waste the time and effort.” Rather than heed Father’s discouraging counsel, I steadfastly set off on my mission: to save San Filippino, a stunning 17th-century baroque chapel in a little-known town in Tuscany. Castiglion Fiorentino is a long name for a small town perched on a hill between the Val di …

The altar my grandma arranges sits under one of our kitchen cabinets. The rosary hangs from St. Joseph’s neck. It’s deep purple with silver pieces between each bead. The statue is about a foot tall and hand painted. He has gray, purple, and brown cloth draped from his body. He’s typically depicted holding Baby Jesus, but in ours he stands alone surrounded by small votive candles. The tomatoes start to simmer right before guests arrive. Both of my uncles are in the kitchen. Steel pots sit on the stove and emit clouds of steam each time the lids are lifted …

Because we go to press so far in advance, I’m penning this column in late December, even though it’s destined for the February issue. That places me squarely in the Resolution Zone, that fanciful timeframe during which we bind ourselves to a host of worthy and sometimes unattainable goals for the coming year. Those resolutions can expand, contract and morph as the months progress. As of this moment, I’ve resolved to: 1) Exercise more, consume fewer calories and in general take better care of my aging body. 2) Seek input from current and former Fra Noi readers and the community-at-large …