Highlights

A longtime government official turned political consultant, Enza Raineri helped save three cherished icons from the trash heap of history by adhering to her crisis management playbook. What’s an ethnic group to do when its icons are under assault? There’s the traditional approach, which relies heavily on anger-fueled protest marches. Then there’s the Enza Raineri way. If you were to codify the crisis management playbook of this longtime government official turned political consultant, it would read something like this: Get your facts in order: Be prepared to let them know exactly where you’re coming from and why this issue is …

With a bill establishing Italian American Heritage Month in Illinois hanging in the balance, State Rep. Anthony DeLuca pulled out all the stops to ensure its passage. In a political landscape that’s bitterly divided, Illinois Rep. Anthony DeLuca is an increasingly rare breed of elected official. “Anthony is a bridge builder. He’s a consensus builder,” Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans President Ron Onesti says. “His fellow legislators know that if their constituents have a need, Anthony will listen to them and do everything in his power to meet that need, regardless of their party, because it’s the right thing …

The readers of Fra Noi never cease to amaze me. Any time I’ve asked you to lend a hand in times of need, you’ve come through in spades. When you learned a couple of months ago that inflation had taken its toll on our bottom line, you didn’t miss a beat. Hundreds upon hundreds of you — more than 10% of our total readership — opened up your hearts and your pocketbooks, filling our coffers with funds sufficient to cover a mind-boggling 80% of our projected deficit for the year. Week after week, white envelopes have flooded into the Fra …

An award-winning anchor and reporter for WGN-TV, Dina Bair leads a fulfilling triple life as a cancer crusader and mom of four. As a little girl growing up in suburban Philadelphia, Dina Bair liked to pretend to be a journalist and narrate accident scenes for imagined TV cameras while riding in her mother’s car. Her role model was broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer, who inspired her to pursue a journalism degree at Northwestern University and forge an award-winning career at WGN-TV in Chicago. Bair is an anchor for WGN Midday News and the medical reporter for WGN Evening News, as well …

I don’t mean to brag, but I may have the best job on the planet. Let me count the ways. I work with a small but mighty staff that dispatches its duties with professionalism and pride. Our crack team of correspondents are as passionate as they are talented, delivering engaging features on a dizzying array of topics. Our publication is so beloved by our readers that they renew their own subscriptions and give them as gifts at an unparalleled rate. Our fiercely devoted advertisers lend their financial support month in and month out, providing the fuel that drives the magazine …

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 …

The cover of Fra Noi reads “Embrace your inner Italian”: words that inspire us to explore every aspect of our heritage and community. In my case, the catchy phrase opened the door to the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia. An oasis of italianità in Stone Park, the center is home to a hardy band of volunteers who truly live this calling. I paid my first visit in 2015 and was introduced to Dominic Candeloro, a pensive curator with glasses that often slide down his nose. He, in turn, introduced me to the vast cultural riches of the center: its …

A bishop in Italy during the first great wave of migration to the Americas, Giovanni Battista Scalabrini founded two religious orders and a lay society to tend to their spiritual and temporal needs. The year is 1881, and the setting is the Milan train station. A 41-year-old Italian bishop watches as 300-400 migrants — young and old, men, women and children, from different northern provinces — wait to board a train to Genoa. They will all soon be headed to America on a steamship voyage fraught with sickness and danger. The middle-aged prelate is overcome with sadness as he looks …

As a third-generation Italian American born in the baby boomer era, I remember growing up getting bits and pieces from my parents about my paternal grandparents who emigrated from Southern Italy around 1910. My aunts and uncles also provided insight into their upbringing as children of Italian immigrant parents. I grew up in the Little Italy of South Philadelphia, and my childhood was filled with the typical Italian-American experience of family traditions that so many of us enjoy. In my mid-20s, I started to wonder about my family tree: Where did my grandparents, Francesco and Caterina Leto, come from in …

Renowned throughout the world for her inspirational missionary work, St. Frances Cabrini had a special place in her heart for the Windy City. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is revered in Catholic circles for her holiness and fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and she is known throughout the world for establishing dozens of hospitals, schools and orphanages in 16 countries. Although her work spanned two continents, Mother Cabrini had a special connection to Chicago, tirelessly serving the immigrant Italian community there for decades and eventually passing away in a hospital she helped to create. A U.S. citizen since …