Profiles

It’s been 68 years since a horrifying fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago took the lives of her brother and 91 other children, along with three nuns, and Linda Maffiola-Piatkiewicz is still processing how the unspeakable tragedy has affected her and her family. For more than three decades, Maffiola has been singularly dedicated to helping others process their own trauma stemming from the fire on Dec. 1, 1958, endeavoring to organize yearly memorial Masses, events and panels open to the community. This year, Maffiola is helping the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago  organize a memorial Mass …

For Maria Teresa Bonfatti Sabbioni, teaching Italian has always raised another question: How do students actually learn a new tongue? “I became passionate about researching how students learn and practice my native language,” she says. Bonfatti Sabbioni has called the United States home for almost 21 years now, but her story began in Pianello Val Tidone, a small town in northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. She attended a liceo classico, an Italian high school that emphasize ancient Greek, Latin and classical and medieval Italian literature. Before earning her university degree, Bonfatti Sabbioni worked as a teaching assistant for children from Albania, …

The annual Triunfu celebration staged by Società SS. Crocifisso & San Giovanni Bosco di Ciminna dates back two centuries, when a mid-December procession bearing the Madonna del Triunfu from Palermo to Ciminna arrived later than expected. “They were supposed to arrive at 6 p.m., but they didn’t make it into town until 1 a.m.,” local Ciminnese legend Tony Napoli explains. “They had been eating and drinking along the way, so they were happy and dancing.” That tradition will be re-enacted at Casa Italia this December and, as always, longtime president Frank Faraci will be there to make sure the event …

A Navy veteran with deep military roots, Michael Focareto now runs charitable powerhouse that has rallied free seats at sporting and entertainment events for our nation’s veterans. A 48-year-old veteran, who had suffered a massive IED attack and took bullets to the body during his U.S. Army service in Iraq and Afghanistan, normally could not tolerate crowds or loud noises. But when he received complimentary tickets for his favorite band, Shinedown, he sang every lyric with gusto during the two-hour concert, his amazed wife wrote to Michael Focareto. Though her husband had suffered from addiction, PTSD, suicidal thoughts and cancer, …

With a passion for global languages and culture, Chiara Avanzato is proud to be able share Italy’s vast contributions as the director of Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago. The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago is one of six such institutes of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation that are dedicated to sharing Italian culture and language in the United States. The ICI organizes and collaborates in a variety of projects and initiatives on an ongoing basis. In October, for example, the ICI offered a residency for a young Italian jazz singer who spent a month in Chicago. …

Walk down the narrow lane of San Gregorio Armeno in Naples’ historic center at any time of year and you’ll find yourself surrounded by shepherds, angels and entire miniature villages rendered in terra-cotta, wood and wax. For nearly 300 years, this street has been at the heart of Neapolitan Nativity art, a tradition that traces back to the 1700s and the court of King Carlo III di Borbone. Unlike the largely religious Nativity scene introduced by St. Francis of Assisi centuries earlier, the Neapolitan version weaves in scenes of everyday life: fishmongers, musicians, and market vendors living and working just …

A longtime resident of suburban Chicago’s Melrose Park, Tom Olson is an indefatigable supporter of a multitude of youth, civic and charitable organizations, earning a plethora of awards for his efforts to actively fundraise and lend his creative skills pro bono. So how much time does Olson devote to public service? “Unlimited, to ensure success,” he replies. “I love what I do and the people I do it with! Seeing the joy in the people’s faces that we help makes everything worthwhile.” Olson retired in 2012 after close to three decades of work for his alma mater, Triton College in …

Mariangela Bonasera and Maria Barbanente are admired, veteran Italian language instructors who, as co-presidents of the Midwest Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Italian, help facilitate fellowship among their peers. It’s especially important for Italian teachers to have a community like AATI to turn to because there may be only one Italian teacher in a school and even an entire district, according to Barbanente. Barbanente, who is in her 12th year at Highland Park High School, is teaching every Italian class at her school as well as one Spanish class this school year. Bonasera, who is teaching around …

While studying abroad in Italy, Jennifer Buono fell in love with the country’s language and culture. That experience eventually led to a career teaching Italian. Today, Buono is entering her 11th year teaching Italian at York Community High School in Elmhurst, but Italian wasn’t the language that first captured her interest. Growing up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Buono was drawn to languages from a young age. With only Spanish and French offered at her middle school and Glenbard South High School, she chose the latter. “I have always loved languages, and as a young child I was very interested in …

An article he ran across in a National Geographic as a child set Keith Pellegrini on a path to becoming a linchpin in Green Beret operations and campaigns for nearly three decades. The youngest of three, Keith Pellegrini was born in the Chicago suburbs to Eugene and Patricia Pellegrini. The family lived in Bellwood until moving to Westchester when Pellegrini was in seventh grade. Pellegrini lived close to his grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. “We were always at each other’s houses,” he says. “They were either at our house, or we were at their house.” Pellegrini remembers eating together, the …