Profiles

As the director of the Chicago office of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Luca Di Vito’s job is to illuminate Italy’s vast cultural treasures and burnish the country’s image around the world. In a sleek office on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, the Italian government offers up a wealth of cultural riches in the form of movie screenings, lectures on art and architecture, discussions on Dante, and more. Luca Di Vito, director of the Chicago office of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, explains that Italy provides this resource to promote Italian culture around the world. The Istituto has a devoted local fan …

After more than two decades as a college basketball coach, Fran Fraschilla  is sharing his wealth of expertise as an analyst for ESPN. Growing up the oldest of seven children in Brooklyn, New York, Fran Fraschilla was hooked on basketball at an early age, like most of his peers. What Fraschilla, now 62, didn’t envision as a youngster was that his glory days wouldn’t come on the basketball court, but as a college coach and later as a TV analyst. “I like to talk. I like to entertain. I love to explain basketball to fans on TV,” says Fraschilla, who …

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 …

While stationed in Italy at the end of his military career, retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Ruffolo helped an RAF officer find the grave of a grandfather who gave his life while storming Monte Cassino during World War II. Prior to my retirement from the U.S. Army, my last military assignment was to the United States Diplomatic Mission to Italy in 2012. These are normally capstone assignments that wrap up a career, but, looking back, a greater power “arranged” that assignment for another reason. An adjunct duty in my assignment to Italy was serving as one of the seven national …

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 …