Profiles

Earlier this year, Metra announced the appointment of John A. Milano as the agency’s Deputy Executive Director for Administration effective February 1. Metra, of course, is the Northeast Illinois Regional Railroad Corporation, Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority. Milano, 50, who was Metra’s Deputy General Counsel, will serve as the top administrative officer for the Chicago area commuter rail agency under Executive Director/CEO Don Orseno. He was selected from a field of 10 candidates after a nationwide search. “John brings the perfect combination of extensive experience and solid expertise to this role,” Orseno said. “I am confident that …

  Growing up in the dawn” of the variety show concept, one of my favorites had to be The Sonny & Cher Show. Each week, watching the little Italian guy get picked on by the tall beauty, well, really hit home for me for obvious reasons. When the show went on summer hiatus in 1974, its replacement starred a guy who I was excited to see, mainly because he was another Italian American with a great voice. Tony Orlando was actually Greek and Puerto Rican, but he still looked like one of my cousins with the big bushy moustache and …

Gino Bartucci is no stranger to the food industry. His father, Gino, ran the legendary Gino’s Italian Imports in the family owned Piazza Italia on Harlem Avenue for many years, and his uncle, Tony, has run Pasta Fresh in the same cluster of shops for decades. Bartucci grew up in both businesses, so it should come as no surprise that he has made a name for himself, not only as the food and beverage director for the Dana Hotel & Spa, but as the new proprietor of BarTucci, which he opened late last year in Piazza Italia with his business …

Since the turn of the 20th century, Italian Americans have had a significant impact on the Illinois legal community, mostly through participation in the Justinian Society of Lawyers, and by community participation by individual achievements. There has been no greater impact than from the contributions of the very successful and highly respected Salvi family. They are not just attorneys who have passed the bar exam, but have been leaders in the community as well as, especially, the legal profession. From extremely successful trial lawyers in the catastrophic injury field, to bar leadership and community leaders, this outstanding family is well …

How many toddlers, in a play world of plastic hammers, would rather have the real deal? Growing up in Turin, Corrado Cavalli asked his mother to buy him an electric saw — at age 2. It was a non-starter, of course, but it also presaged his career as a young handyman. Then came a fortuitous visit to a local church, which called Cavalli to use his hands in a different way. “At age 13 a new organ was being installed in my church, so I wanted to observe and understand the physical installation,” recalls Cavalli, now 37. “I was interested …

In business, when time-honored traditions blend with new technologies, innovative products and fresh ideas, consumers win and companies thrive. That’s the secret behind the success of Volpi Foods Inc., which has dramatically modernized its processes and diversified its offerings while staying true to the values that have sustained it for more than a century. Established in St. Louis in 1902, Volpi is now headed by Lorenza Pasetti, great-niece of company founder Giovanni Volpi and the third generation of her family to produce authentic Italian meat products from distinctive Old World recipes. “Like my father and great uncles before me, I …

This month we introduce in these pages, the highly respected and hardworking mayor of the city of Berwyn, Illinois. Robert J. Lovero. Having been born at Mother Cabrini Hospital in the Taylor Street Neighborhood and residing in Berwyn for the last 50 years, Bob has embraced his Italian-American heritage as an integral part of his life in public service. Both parents trace their roots to the Calabria region (though Bob’s dad also has some Hispanic roots as well). Throughout this time he has had the support of his family, including father Thomas (deceased), mother Alba, brother Scott, wife Gail, son …

You’ve got answers? Frank DiPiero has questions: lots of them. An affable and curious guy by nature, DiPiero has turned pride in his Italian-American identity into a shared Internet radio experience with a light-hearted name: “Keepin’ It Real with Frankie D.” For him, it marks another step in his effort to promote education, culture and awareness in the Italian community. “I started ‘Keepin’ It Real with Frankie D.’ in 2013,” says DiPiero, whose father traces his roots to Bugnara in Abruzzo and his mother to Sant’Ambrogio in Sicily. As for the name, “That’s what everyone called me when I was …

    Entrepreneurial roots run deep within event planner Michelle Durpetti. The daughter of Tony and Marion Durpetti, owners of Chicago’s legendary Gene & Georgetti restaurant, and granddaughter of the restaurant’s late cofounder Gene Michelotti, she boasts an impressive hospitality industry pedigree. Never one to rest on her family’s laurels, she co-founded McGowan Durpetti & Associates, later flying solo with Michelle Durpetti Events, a full-service wedding and event production company. Since the inception of Michelle Durpetti Events in 2008, she has planned and produced over 300 weddings and special events, including such celebrity-studded festivities as Chicago Gateway Green’s annual Green …

  Where other Chicago commuters see filthy expressway viaducts or bleak train station walls — that is, if they see them at all — muralist Tony Passero envisions possibilities: outsized felines with piano-key teeth; cubist creatures of red and orange in surrealistic tango; kaleidoscopic owls orbited by Technicolor eggs. Passero’s public artwork enthralls enough to make drivers screech in their tracks to do a double take. Yet to properly assess his work means leaving your assumptions at the nearest exit ramp. For starters, he’s self-taught. And bottom line, the majority of his city mural work is self-funded, with Passero also …