Profiles

  John Mirabelli was honored as Man of the Year and Marianne D’Amico as Woman of the Year at the Mazzini-Verdi Club’s President’s Ball in December. John Frank Mirabelli was born on Feb. 28, 1938, at home near Taylor and Ashland. His parents, Enrico and Mary Anne Mirabelli, migrated from Calabria to Chicago in the early 1900s where they raised their six children: Edith, Irma, Louie, Theresa, Joe and John. He attended Notre Dame and Holy Trinity grade schools and St. Philip’s High School. John met the love of his life, Julie, on a blind date at North Avenue Beach …

by Ryan Calabretta-Sajder The American Association of Teachers of Italian recently bestowed its Honorary Membership Award (Socio Onorario) upon longtime Fra Noi Associate Editor Fred Gardaphè. A pioneering voice in the field of Italian-American studies, Gardaphè recently gave a keynote lecture at AATI’s 2016 International Conference in Naples. A Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies at Queens College/CUNY and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Gardaphè directs the Italian/American Studies Program at Queens College and formerly directed the programs in Italian American and American studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Gardaphè is …

What do Microsoft, GE, and the Chicago Police Department have in common? They’re all working to reach community and team members in a more meaningful way with the help of a Chicago-born tech entrepreneur with deep Sicilian roots. MeetApp North America co-founder and CEO Sal Camarda has taken his smartphone app from a lean startup to a company boasting some of the most powerful and well-known clients in the world in just over a year. While MeetApp boasts a variety of features and services, Camarda puts it simply: “We’re trying to solve problems using a vehicle people understand, and that’s …

  Spending every summer of his childhood in Sicily convinced Antonino Bondi that he wanted a career somehow related to Italy. He never pictured himself as a teacher in those days, but he has realized his dream in a classroom. Bondi, 31, the son of parents who immigrated from Sicily to Chicago in the 1970s, teaches Italian 2, 3 and 4 in northwest suburban Township High School District 214. He starts his day teaching at Rolling Meadows High School, and then travels to Prospect High School in Mount Prospect to teach in the afternoons. For someone who spoke the Sicilian …

Michele Curley’s love of languages and cultures started at age 14. That’s when her grandmother, Filomena Conversano Pesano, who at 17 had left Basilicata and journeyed alone to the United States, decided to take Michele, her five siblings and her parents back to Basilicata. “It was a really transformative experience,” Curley, an Italian teacher at East Leyden High School, says of the month-long visit. They met relatives, took road trips around southern Italy, returned to Basilicata and then went north to Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice. When they returned to the Chicago area, Curley wanted to take Italian when she …

“I’ve still got all my chords memorized. Let me show you.” Sam Franco takes a moment to collect himself before rising from his easy chair. At 92, he doesn’t move quite as quickly as he used to, but he takes a few slow, smiling steps to his right. He bends over to the flip the switch on and old amplifier, and then sits down at a synthesizer keyboard. “Don’t even ask me what I’m playing,” he says. And he begins. Franco’s playing is slow and measured, in the same vein of his approach to the accordion, his one true musical …

  by Nancy Donohoe My dad, Leno Santacaterina, turned 90 in June. His life has been pretty full so far – married for 66 years to my mom, five children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren, with another on the way. He was born in Turin, Italy, and came to the US – to Chicago – when he was a child. Just as his family arrived, the Depression hit. He grew up speaking Italian and English, and watched as his parents developed their careers while they still managing to reach out to the many friends and relatives who arrived from …

From arias and symphonies to Neapolitan streets songs and pop, Italian music cannot be categorized by style or genre. But if there is one word that sums up centuries of musical creativity, Robert Rodi may have found it: crescendo. In honor of this, Rodi has created a multi-genre musical production titled ’O sole mio. Based entirely on Italian music, it combines classical melodies such as “Core ‘ngrato,” “’O sole mio” and “Caro mio ben” and more modern favorites like “Al di la,” “lo che non vivo” and “Volare” with modern Italian pop like “Ancora, ancora, ancora.” These songs touch on …

  It is 2 a.m., Saturday April 13, 2016. Italo Americo Bove, or “Bob” to his friends, rises out of bed. He has a 4a.m. appointment with 100 other Veterans. On this morning, forty WWII veterans and sixty-one Korean War veterans will gather at Midway Airport in Chicago to board Southwest Airlines, courtesy of Honor Flight Chicago. Honor Flight Chicago was founded in February of 2008 to recognize Chicagoland’s World War II and Korean War veterans by flying them, all-expense-paid to Washington DC for a day of honor, remembrance and celebration. To date, 6355 Chicago area veterans have made this …

  Ivana Di Piero Hair Studio in Norridge recently celebrated a quarter century of making life more beautiful for customers and community alike. Born in Italy and a resident of the Chicago area since the age of 2, Di Piero was raised in Norridge since the age of 9. She graduated from John V. Leigh School and Ridgewood High School, where she took the cosmetology class that launched her career. Di Piero opened for business on Aug. 21, 1991, thanks to her husband, Frank, who came home with the lease and said, “Here’s your shop.” The couple bought the property …