Profiles

In his 13 years as mayor of Bloomingdale, Franco Coladipietro has worked on several large-scale projects, but none as consequential as the redevelopment of the now-demolished Stratford Square Mall. The site, renamed “The Grove,” will be home to Bloomingdale Yard, a 100,000-square-foot sports training facility slated to open next year. There are also plans for restaurants, an event lawn, a man-made lake, retail space and luxury residences. The old mall, once the largest revenue generator for the village, had become a symbol of failure, Coladipietro says. “Failure doesn’t sit well with me,” he says. “The mall’s ownership group had no …

  Shawna Hennessey has been an Italian instructor at Fenwick High School for 19 years. Affectionately referred to as “Prof” by her students, she teaches with genuine enthusiasm and commitment. But if you had asked her two decades ago where she’d be today, she never would have imagined the role she’s come to love so deeply. Hennessey was born in Minneapolis but grew up in Western Springs, a southwest suburb of Chicago. Though her father is mostly of Irish descent, her mother traces her roots to Amaseno, a small town in the Lazio region of Italy. Hennessey’s maternal grandparents immigrated …

Attorney Lindsey Mirabella’s first experience with the DuPage County Chapter of the Justinian Society of Lawyers came when she was instructed to attend an event by one of the partners at her first law firm after she passed the bar in 2021. “As a baby attorney, of course I said ‘Yes ma’am I will certainly be there,’” Mirabella says. “I loved it right away, it felt like home.” Mirabella was brought onto the chapter’s board almost immediately and before she knew it she was helping plan the group’s annual charity ball. “I was a total fish out of water just …

Serving in the Marines after four years in college, he helped his platoon maintain a constant state of readiness after the Korean War. The only son of six children, John Damore was born in Berwyn, Illinois, to Lorenzo and Teresa Latoria Damore. Lorenzo emigrated from Bari, Italy, and Teresa was born in Franklin Park. They and their 19 children were recognized at the 1933-34 World’s Fair in Chicago as the largest Italian family in the United States. Damore thrived in his large, loving family, spending every weekend on his grandparents’ farm. “Everybody worked on the farm when they were old …

Trained in classic techniques, Verona-born sculptor Virginio Ferrari now expresses universal themes through elemental forms from his home and studio in Chicago. As the sun rises over Chicago every morning, thousands of drivers on the Kennedy Expressway see light reflecting off the elegant curves of a sculpture that sits right where the expressway ends at Orleans Street. The prominent location of this serene 1983 work, called “Being Born,” reflects the city of Chicago’s high regard for its creator, sculptor Virginio Ferrari, who is from Verona but lives in the Windy City. Over a seven-decade career, Ferrari has created countless works …

After being a fixture in the Chicago culinary scene for decades, Joe Monastero has taken his passion for the restaurant industry to a whole new level as an executive for the Texas Restaurant Association. As chief revenue officer of the Texas Restaurant Association, Joe Monastero knows the Italian dining scene in Texas like few others. Monastero also serves as trustee for the Catering Executives Club of America board (where he is past chairman and president) and is the immediate past co-chairman of the Milan-Chicago Committee of Sister Cities International. Now residing in Austin, Texas, Monastero grew up less than a …

Bianca Maldonado likes to say that the universe leads people where they are meant to be — and her life, in many ways, is testament to that. For one, if it weren’t for the abrupt closure of the Chicago radio station she worked for, it’s hard to know whether she would have found her life’s passion as a clinical mental health therapist. Maldonado, nee Ferreri, grew up in Burbank and graduated from Mother McAuley High School in Chicago. After studying at the Illinois Center for Broadcasting in Lombard, at age 19 she became the youngest woman — and one of …

Dr. Charles Martello had already been practicing dentistry for more than a decade before he first became aware of, and subsequently involved with, the Arcolian Dental Arts Society in 2002. Martello graduated from Loyola University’s dental school in 1987 and joined several other dental societies when he began his career, including the American Dental Association, Illinois State Dental Society, and Chicago Dental Society. “I wish that I had been a member (of the Arcolians) when I was back at Loyola,” Martello says. “It is a great group but I didn’t know of it and when you’re at that level you’re …

Carl Liture — who sold newspapers at the Century of Progress world’s fair in 1933-34 and witnessed the landing on Lake Michigan of Italo Balbo’s historic transatlantic flight — turned 100 on Dec. 26, 2025. The eldest of two sons born to Giuseppe and Giuseppina (Varvaro) Liturri, Carl grew up in the Italian enclave known as The Patch on the Near Northwest Side of Chicago. (The spelling of his last name was changed when he registered for school and the staffer wrote it the way it was pronounced rather than asking him for the spelling.) Carl worked a series of …

A standout at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, Laura Pausini has carved a niche for herself in the global music pantheon thanks to her vocal prowess and a multilingual approach to her craft. It really is incredible just how much the Sanremo Music Festival, Italy’s premier annual song competition, has influenced the music scene internationally. From Andrea Bocelli to Il Volo, more superstars have emerged from this event than almost any other of its kind. The winner of the Newcomer Artist competition in 1993, then 19-year-old Laura Pausini is a perfect example of how singing in …