Profiles

Jim Tinaglia, an architect with a long history of community service, was voted in as mayor of Arlington Heights this spring. When people ask him what it’s like to be mayor, he says that he always tells them his job is 90% wonderful. “People have been so respectful, decent, optimistic and kind,” Tinaglia says. “The 10 percent is the scary part because there are surprises here and there you have to be ready for. People get unhappy and there are situations that come up that you can’t plan for.” It’s his job to be as level-headed, transparent and middle-of-the-road as …

With nearly 40 years of experience practicing law, Chicago attorney Karen Conti is also an author and media personality who makes appearances on national and local radio and TV. Next on her list of goals: finishing her second book, upping her list of visited countries to 62, and hosting her own TV show. Conti, whose paternal grandparents were born in Italy, grew up in Berwyn, a suburb just west of Chicago. She graduated from Morton West High School and earned an undergraduate degree in political science and a law degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I was always …

  Jim Distasio hasn’t missed the Feast of Maria SS. Incoronata in what is now Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood since he was a little boy. At first, it was top avoid incurring the ire of his grandfather, who expected every family member to be in attendance at the yearly tradition started in 1897 by emigrants from his ancestral hometown in Italy. “We had to make sure we were all there at the feast — cousins, aunts, uncles,” Distasio recalls. “If you didn’t show up, you better have a good reason why, because that was my grandfather’s day.” Nowadays, the longtime president …

As the head of a machine-gun crew, Ralph Bertolacini helped safeguard Alaska during World War II. The older of two sons, Ralph Bertolacini was born in Aug. 8, 1925, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to Pietro and Mary Cardosi Bertolacini. His father emigrated from Barga, Italy, with an older brother. His mother’s family was also from Tuscany. Bertolacini grew up near his maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. “I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. In fact, that’s where I learned to speak Italian,” Bertolacini says. “My father had the attitude like a lot of other Italians. You should …

by Elena Ferrarin and Doug Graham As a driving force behind Friends of the Uffizi Galleries, Lisa Marie Conte Browne has helped raise millions of dollars toward the restoration of the renowned art museum’s expansive collections. Visitors flock by the millions each year to the Uffizi Galleries in Florence to marvel at its vast and dazzling array of art. Opened in 1769, it is one of the largest and best-known art museums in the world, boasting one of the most expansive collection of works from the Italian Renaissance. The mission of Lisa Marie Conte Browne, president of Friends of the …

Nearly half a century after “I Just Wanna Stop” skyrocketed to No. 4 on the U.S. charts, Gino Vannelli’s still wowing audiences and collaborating with fellow music legends. In August of 1978, the Pop/Adult Contemporary hit “I Just Wanna Stop” blasted onto the radio airwaves, launching a musical journey for Gino Vannelli that continues to excite live audiences to this day. Gino was born in Montreal to Italian parents who immigrated to Canada to escape the daunting era of World War II Italy. Many of the Italian traditions he still practices were brought over by his grandparents from Molise and …

On June 23, members of the Norridge-Harwood Heights and Montclare Elmwood Park Kiwanis Clubs came together to celebrate a living legend: Ross Pontarelli, who has been a proud and active member of Kiwanis for 54 year s— and counting. Ross’s journey began in Rocchetta al Volturno, Italy, where he was born Rosinto Antonio Pontarelli on March 3, 1931. As a young boy, he witnessed the rumble of World War II firsthand — bombs falling not far from his village near Monte Cassino. At 20, he left Italy for North America, eventually settling in Chicago in 1955 with determination, a drive to serve, and only basic English. He made …

As a driving force behind the American Friends of Capodimonte, Cristina Del Sesto has helped increase stateside awareness and support for “Europe’s least-known great museum.” Creating wider public access to the Capodimonte Museum has been the opportunity of a lifetime, says Cristina Del Sesto. Located in Naples and boasting more than 47,000 works of art spanning the Middle Ages to the 21st century, the museum was described as “Europe’s least-known great museum” in a Financial Times article in 2023. Del Sesto serves on the board of American Friends of Capodimonte (including just over one term as president until earlier this …

When her dreams of Olympic glory didn’t come to fruition, Sophia Campana carved out a successful career in the land of her forebears and beyond. Like almost every talented, driven gymnast, Sophia Campana grew up with Olympic ambitions. “Gosh, I was obsessed with the Olympics,” Campana says. “My thinking was I’ll make it to the Olympics and win the gold medal and then everyone will love me.” So, when she failed to qualify with the gymnastics team for the 2012 Olympics it was a major blow. But in the 13 years since, Campana has made a great career for herself …

Having lived through the Nazi occupation of Italy during World War II as a child, Edward Pasquesi helped keep the North Koreans on the far side of the 38th Parallel after the Korean War. The middle of three children, Edward Pasquesi was born in Bomporto, Italy, to Angelo and Antonietta Santi Pasquesi. His parents had been working on a farm in the Modena valley and returned to Cadagnolo, their family village in the Apennine Mountains, when Pasquesi was 4 or 5 years old. “We were poor, but we really didn’t know it,” he says. Pasquesi lived among relatives from both …