Profiles

After guarding the Korean DMZ for most of his tour of duty in the Army during the Vietnam War, Luco Clarizio watched over fallen soldiers returning to the States, escorting their caskets from the airport to the cemetery. The oldest of two sons born to Dominick and Mary (Viola) Clarizio, Luco was brought into this world by his maternal grandmother in a fourth-floor walk-up on Loomis Street in Little Italy. “I was born blue, and my grandma put me in the oven,” he says. His parents were born in Chicago, and his grandparents emigrated from Calabria and Bari. The family …

An infectious disease specialist for more than a decade, Dr. Mia Taormina was ready for her close-up when WBEZ asked her to be its on-air coronavirus expert early last year. For the first decade of Dr. Mia Taormina’s career, work went pretty steadily as she saw patients and made rounds. She is one of only three doctors with an infectious disease specialty at DuPage Medical Group, a 750-doctor practice. In late 2019, Taormina and colleagues in her specialty were among the first to learn about a virus circulating in China. Within weeks, Taormina’s life kicked into high gear and stayed …

A rising star in the race walking world until a leg injury sidelined him, Michael Mannozzi has battled back into contention thanks to an indomitable drive and the support of his family. Michael Mannozzi earned 17 national race walking titles from 2010-16, so one might think placing fifth at the 2021 USA 50K National Championships in February would be a somewhat unremarkable result for him. Not so, the 35-year-old says. “That race, for me, was in all ways a success,” he says. “That was so rewarding.” That’s because Mannozzi, now a religious affairs airman at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in …

Through her Lower Manhattan gallery, Laura Mattioli preserves and promotes the work of important 20th-century Italian creatives. In the eyes of even the most adoring beholder, a stereotype exists that Italian visual art begins with a bang in antiquity, hits its peak in the Renaissance and ceases to be much of a factor by the mid-20th century. After all, the 1950s and ’60s were the era of Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, right? One woman has reformed that view by taking a lead role in celebrating Italy’s influence in the modern and postmodern movements. The daughter of a …

A longtime special teams coordinator, John Bonamego recently ascended the NFL coaching ranks thanks to his dedication to teaching the fundamentals. After a long career as a special teams coordinator in the National Football League, John Bonamego says there is one thing he’s most proud of. “I have never had a previous relationship with the coaches I’ve worked for,” he says. “In every case, they found me. I was recommended and hired based on the merits of my work.” Bonamego, 57, was hired by the Los Angeles Rams in February 2020 as special teams coordinator and has since taken on …

As a Navy Seabee, Anthony Pucillo helped create housing and infrastructure for installations throughout the Pacific after the Korean War. The oldest of three sons, Anthony Pucillo was born in Chicago to Ernest and Theresa (FioRito) Pucillo. The family lived in the Jane Adams Projects on Taylor Street until Pucillo was 5 years old. “We moved around quite a bit,” he says. Both parents were born in Chicago, and his grandparents emigrated from Sicily and Calabria. A “very good cook,” Pucillo’s mother made traditional Italian dishes in addition to fried chicken and breaded veal steak, two meals he especially liked. …

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 …

Initially amused by the sport, Michael Paccione and his family are now among the top lawn mower racers in the nation. The first time Michael Paccione saw his father-in-law race a lawn mower on a dirt track in Maryland, he reacted the way most people would: with amused astonishment. “We were teasing him about it,” Paccione recounts, “because it was so hokey.” Fast-forward 15 years, and Paccione, of Toms River, New Jersey, has become an avid lawn mower racer who all but waxes poetic about this little-known sport, which his wife and three children have also taken up. “It’s wild,” …

One of history’s greatest cyclists, Gino Bartali went above and beyond the call of duty during World War II on behalf of Italy’s Jewish citizens. Life has peaks and valleys, happiness and sadness, good and evil. In the course of a storied career, Italian cycling legend Gino Bartali pedaled through countless highs and lows, both physical and emotional, battling more than his fair share of evil along the way. Gino was born to Torello and Giulia Sizzi Bartali in 1914 in Ponte a Ema, a small Tuscan town just south of Firenze. Torello often collected mud for bricks as a day …

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 …