Profiles

  Dr. Rosella Spadoni ascended to the presidency of the Arcolian Dental Arts Society on April 24 at RoccoVino’s in Elk Grove Village. Dr. Spadoni is a founding and principal doctor at South Barrington Dental. Joining her as Arcolian officers are President-Elect Dr. Katina Spadoni, Vice President Dr. Chuck DiFranco Jr., Secretary Dr. Paul E. DiFranco, Treasurer Dr. Derek Fornelli, and Dinner/Speaker Chair Dr. Mary Teresa Lima. Bios and profiles follow. Dr. Rosella Spadoni (President) Dr. Rosella Spadoni received her bachelor of science in 1980 from Loyola University of Chicago. She completed her graduate studies and obtained her D.D.S. degree …

  Hooked on synchronized swimming after witnessing a team workout at the local YMCA, Ruby Remati has battled her way to the top of the sport in America. When someone says “synchronized swimming,” do you picture ladies with flowered caps moving languidly through the water? You better not, says Ruby Remati, the 2017 U.S. national champion in the solo and figures categories. “It’s an extremely demanding sport, and it requires a lot of hours of training,” the 15-year-old says. “There are some people who look at is as a stereotype, but there are also a lot of people who find …

  An officer in the Army for 20 years, Lorenzo Fiorentino was in charge of anti-terrorism at a base in Kabul that housed the Three Star General Command. The youngest of four children, Lorenzo Fiorentino was born in Casteldaccia, Sicily, to Pietro and Rosalia (Canale). His father became ill and could no longer work the farm, and in 1972, the family immigrated to Chicago, where they lived with Rosalia’s sister and her family. His mother supported them as a seamstress until his father recovered and began working in a factory. Fiorentino grew up near Pulaski Road and North Avenue and …

    Arriving in Hollywood in 1979 to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, Leo Grillo’s life was transformed by a dream of a completely different sort. The majestic creature came to Leo Grillo in dream after dream after dream. Not that those visions meshed exactly with his occupational dream at the time. It was 1979, and Grillo, the new kid in town, was working hard to get his Hollywood career off the ground. Then came a plot twist straight out of Tinseltown. For no specific reason, Grillo embarked on a road trip to Bakersfield, some 100 miles north …

Too young to join the Signal Corps, Tony Vaccaro defied his superiors and spirited a $47 camera into the teeth of battle, taking some of the most gripping photos of World War II while charting the course of his professional life. Huddled alongside his fellow infantrymen in a transport speeding across the English Channel, Private First Class Tony Vaccaro didn’t know he was headed to Omaha Beach on June 18, 1944, a little more than a week after the D-Day invasion had commenced. Before boarding the ship, Vaccaro’s superiors sternly warned the American soldiers that anyone caught taking pictures would …

With gratitude, grit and generosity, Walter S. Arnold is on a mission to save an Italian cemetery’s incredible, endangered works. To see Michelangelo’s sculptures of the Unfinished Slaves — a 16th-century project meant for the tomb of Pope Julius II, but abandoned when the money ran out — is to behold figures clenched in an eternal, tortured struggle to break loose from the marble that encases them. They bear mute testimony to what the artist once said, that he worked to liberate forms imprisoned in marble: that his job was simply to remove the extraneous. And many sculptures must be …

A spy for the Allies and a participant in the underground railroad that protected Italy’s Jews during World War II, Giuseppe Lella considered himself a coward until an American author persuaded him to share his story with the world. The war came to Giuseppe “Pino” Lella right as he watched Fred Astaire dance with Rita Hayworth. It was the summer of 1943 and Lella, then 17 years old, was sitting next his brother, Mimmo, at a movie theater in his native Milan watching the cinematic duo twirl across the screen. For a brief moment, the war that had engulfed Europe …

Her family has made music strings for hundreds of years. As head of the D’Addario Foundation, Suzanne D’Addario Brouder toils to make music education possible for underserved kids. Imagine growing up among music royalty, the guitar-string makers to the stars. These days, the roll call of artists using D’Addario strings includes the likes of Keith Urban, Dave Matthews, Joe Satriani, Al Di Meola, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits — and if you’ve got a few hours, we could supply you a list of hundreds more. Is it fair to say that the D’Addario family — which has been at this …

  As the senator representing North and Central America in the Italian Parliament for seven of the last 12 years, Renato Turano fought fiercely for his constituents and made great strides on their behalf. As Renato Turano’s illustrious career as an Italian senator comes to close, he returns to his life in America with a suitcase full of memories and accomplishments. First elected in 2006 to represent North and Central America in the Italian Senate, he joined an elite band of six senators and 12 deputies voted in by 5 million Italian citizens scattered across six continents. That monumental task …

The Order Sons of Italy in America, Grand Lodge of Illinois & Wisconsin, headed north for its 17th annual Leonardo da Vinci Awards of Excellence Gala, hosting the event on May 6 at the Roma Lodge in Racine. The event featured a buffet luncheon at noon and an awards ceremony. Profiles of the honorees follow: Peter Barca Representative Peter Barca is a lifelong citizen of Kenosha and Somers. He currently serves as State Representative from the 64th Assembly District, which includes much of the City of Kenosha and portions of the City of Racine, Town of Somers, Village of Mount …