Profiles

di Leandro Cruz Tredici italiani sono venuti per dieci giorni per lo scambio Ravenna-Wheeling. Durante questo tempo siamo diventati una comitiva di amici. Questa è stata un’esperienza che mi ha cambiato la vita. La prima sera siamo andati a mangiare e abbiamo parlato come se ci conoscessimo da una vita e ci siamo divertiti molto. Abbiamo mangiato cibo americano e anche il cibo messicano dalla nostra eredità. Siamo andati in pizzeria ed hanno assaggiato la pizza stile Chicago.  Abbiamo fatto tanto insieme ma soprattutto abbiamo goduto il nostro tempo insieme. Abbiamo anche imparato come essere responsabili. Eravamo tutti disposti ad …

della Classe d’Italiano 2 Honors Benvenuti alla classe d’Italiano 2 Honors a Marist con la Professoressa Zulato! Nel semestre passato, abbiamo studiato le tradizioni del cibo italiano e come il cibo è il cuore della cultura italiana. In particolare, abbiamo appreso della storia e delle origini del tiramisù, un cibo essenziale dell’Italia. Durante una delle nostre lezioni la nostra professoressa ha portato gli ingredienti per la creazione del tiramisù (lo zucchero, il mascarpone, i savoiardi, il cacao, il caffè e le uova) e gli utensili per prepararlo. Noi abbiamo fatto il tiramisù e l’abbiamo mangiato la lezione successiva: era saporito. …

di Alexa Marshall Ciao! Mi chiamo Alexa Marshall e vado a Glenbard North High School. L’ultimo semestre, la mia classe ed io abbiamo fatto un progetto di artisti italiani. Abbiamo studiato un’artista che troviamo interessante e abbiamo presentato l’artista di fronte alla classe. Dopo, abbiamo studiato un’opera famosa e la storia dietro questa. Successivamente, abbiamo scelto una delle nostre opere preferite con un compagno. Abbiamo stampato una grande versione dell’opera e abbiamo usato una matita per colorare il dorso nero. Sui pannelli del soffitto della classe, abbiamo rintracciato le file importanti così si potevano vedere sui pannelli. Abbiamo usato i …

Best known as the pencil-wielding team leader on the CBS hit drama “FBI,” Jeremy Sisto has steadily built an impressive acting resume thanks to a devotion to the sorts of details that bring his characters to life. Telly Savalas had his lollipops. Peter Falk had his trench coat. And Jeremy Sisto has his pencil. Appearing on the hit CBS drama “FBI,” now in its second season, Sisto’s Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine commands an elite team of investigators in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York field office, and he does it all while spinning, chewing and pointing …

Angelo Castanza has been elected by the board of directors to chair Casa Italia for a two-year term. Joining him as fellow officers are Jo Ann Serpico as vice chairman, Cathy Lange as treasurer and Paul Basile as secretary. A past president of the Calabresi in America Organization, Castanza has been a member of the board since 2014 and served as vice chairman from 2018 to 2020. “I was assigned to the board as president of the Calabresi in America and decided to maintain my membership after my term was up, because I like the vision that the Casa represents,” …

Retired Army Col. Renato Bacci has been elected by the board of directors to helm the Italian American Veterans Museum. Joining him as officers are retired Navy Commander Joseph Troiani as first vice president, retired Army Maj. Lorenzo Fiorentino as second vice president, Army veteran Mark DiSanto third vice president, Steve Corbo as treasurer, Eugene Giudice as parliamentarian and Paul Basile as corporate secretary and executive vice president. The officers were installed by community leader Joanne Spata. During his 30-year military career, Bacci served as an infantry, armor, and civil affairs officer, with tours of duty in Bosnia, Croatia, Germany, …

The Flowers of Italy Club honored community activist Frank Di Piero on March 28 at Villa Brunetti in Franklin Park. (630-688-3153) Di Piero is the host of the podcast “Keepin’ It Real with Frankie D.” on ItalianAmericanLife.com. He is a past president of the Harlem Avenue Italian & American Business Association and served on the committee to create the Italian-American studies program at Loyola University in Chicago. He is a board member of Casa Italia, Italidea-Midwest and Little Italy Cenetta, and serves on the committee that stages the Festa della Repubblica at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii. A …

Mere months before full-scale battles raged across Vietnam, Paul Calabrese engaged in deadly skirmishes in the jungles around his base camps to ward off enemy incursion. The oldest of four sons, Paul Calabrese was born in Chicago to Joseph and Betty (Spindler) Calabrese. They lived in a family-owned six-flat on the West Side of Chicago until moving to Oak Park when Calabrese was 6 years old. He recalls Sunday dinners and Christmas gatherings at his paternal grandparents’ home. “I remember grandma making raviolis all the time and they lived in the basement,” says Calabrese. He explains that his grandparents had …

A veteran rider at 16 years of age, Katelyn Turner took her roping to the next level last year at the World Junior Championships in Vegas. Katelyn Turner found her passion at a young age when she first saddled up a horse. Now, she’s competing in the international spotlight at just 16 years old. Turner was only 10 when she first started riding. Once she put her feet in the stirrups, they almost never came out. “I lived in Hollywood, Florida, and they used to have a Wednesday night Jackpot Rodeo,” says Turner, the granddaughter of longtime Chicago-area Italian-American community …

In her bilingual musical for young adults, Simona Rodano breaks artistic boundaries while tackling a topic of importance and poignancy. One well-worn cliché where adventurous artists are concerned centers on how they “follow their own muse.” But Simona Rodano is far more driven than that. Working within the four disciplines of music, theater, environmental science and education — spread out over two languages no less — this native of northern Italy has created what she calls an “edumusical” titled “Sempreverde: Evergreen.” Where anything environmental is concerned, Rodano knows whereof she speaks: A scientist by training, she deftly avoids the trap …