Highlights

Columbus’ voyages challenge our concept of history. On the one hand, we have the heroic notion of Columbus sailing the ocean blue to discover a new world. On the other, we have the revisionist interpretation of Columbus as a perpetrator of genocide. In between is a full range of facts, questions and interpretations that make history the fascinating discipline it is. First and foremost, Christopher Columbus was a man of his times. And like all of us, he was an imperfect mortal. He embodied the spirit of enterprise then emerging in Europe, but his pursuit of material gain had a …

In 1819, English poet John Keats wrote a series of odes celebrating such things as a nightingale, the goddess Psyche, autumn and most famously a Grecian urn. Two years later, he died at the age of 25 in the midst of a pandemic that caused a quarter of the deaths across Europe in the 19th century. Here we are today — 100 years after the Spanish flu ripped through the world killing 50 million people — in the middle of our own pandemic: COVID-19. I first became familiar with odes in 1994 while watching the Italian film “Il postino” (The …

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, will be remembered as one of the most historic dates in Italian-American history. It’s the day that representatives of 354 Italian-American organizations from across our country joined together to participate in the first-ever National Italian American Summit Meeting. From New York to California to Hawaii, from Michigan to Louisiana, and from nearly every state in between, Italian-American leaders did something they had never done before: They joined hands in a show of national unity. The idea for the summit meeting stemmed from a discussion I had with Frank Maselli, president of the American Italian Museum in …

Crediting the JCCIA with setting him on his life’s path, Ron Onesti is looking to return the favor as the organization’s incoming president. At awards ceremonies, it’s not uncommon for recipients to well up as they recall those who helped them earn their place at the podium. Installations of officers tend to be more stoic affairs, but there Ron Onesti was, fighting back tears as he accepted the presidency of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans at a Jan. 24 meeting at Club Arcada in St. Charles. “At that moment, it came full circle to me just how much …

The first Italian American to be ordained a bishop in Chicago, Fr. Bob Lombardo has served the poorest of the poor and resurrected a church close to the heart of our community. In the hush of Holy Name Cathedral, with hundreds of Catholics in attendance, the former Fr. Bob Lombardo knelt before Cardinal Blase Cupich in a Nov. 13 ceremony to receive an anointing with oil, a ring, a miter and a staff. That day, amid many joyous congratulations, Lombardo became the first Italian American, and the first Franciscan, to be ordained a bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Bishop …

Jan. 14, 2021, was a landmark day for the Chicago-area Italian-American community. That’s when we took a quantum leap forward in our efforts to undo the false narrative that threatens to permanently sweep Christopher Columbus from the local landscape. We’ve had great turnouts at press conferences, strategy sessions and rallies, but this was the first time we “entered the lion’s den,” and we comported ourselves admirably. The occasion was a Zoom meeting sponsored by the city of Chicago to field input regarding the future of the city’s many statues, Columbus’ among them. With key decision makers from the city slated …

Even though only 25 percent of my DNA leads back to Italy, I have always considered myself Italian. Given my surname, everyone assumes I’m pure Italian. (Everyone except my Irish mother who always reminded me that the majority of my roots lay in Ireland.) The fact that I grew up in a part of Illinois inhabited by few Italians did nothing to separate me from my heritage. Whatever everyone else was, I was Italian! On my first trip to Europe when I was 23, I discovered I felt more comfortable in Florence than in any other city I had visited …

I’m so proud to be writing to you as the new president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans. It’s a sacred trust I take as seriously as anything I’ve ever done. I have big plans for our venerable organization, and there will be plenty of time to share those with you in the coming months. Right now, though, we need to bear down on a time-sensitive matter of the utmost importance. As you know, Christopher Columbus has come under increasing fire both locally and nationally, with statues toppling across the country and Columbus Day getting the axe at …

Fra Noi readers are nothing if not devoted. You demonstrate that every month in the remarkable rate at which you renew your subscriptions, the little notes of thanks and praise you send with your payments, and the inspiring number of gift subscriptions you give. In the last several weeks, you’ve taken that devotion to a whole new level, responding to our fundraising appeal with a tidal wave of generosity. Nearly one in every five of you answered the call with contributions ranging from $5 bills to a mindboggling $2,000 check. With donations still flowing in at press time, the wave’s …

After years of living from project to project, Torrey DeVitto finally has a home base in one of Dick Wolf’s famously long-running series. When the hit drama “Chicago Med” returns to NBC later this year, the doctors at the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center will face off against the same coronavirus pandemic their real-life counterparts have been grappling with since March. Actress Torrey DeVitto, who plays the brilliant emergency pediatrics specialist Dr. Natalie Manning, says the show won’t time jump or ignore current events. Instead, the crown jewel of executive producer Dick Wolf’s “One Chicago” franchise will embrace its creator’s …