Tag Archives: Casa Italia

Patronato ACLI will offer a presentation about Italian citizenship laws at 6 p.m. on May 23 at Casa Italia in Stone Park. The presentation will be made by Stefano Marruso, national director of Patronato ACLI USA. “A boom in interest obtaining Italian citizenships has led to a ‘citizenship market’ that exploits the general confusion surrounding the topic,” Marusso says. “This meeting aims to clarify the new law about Italian citizenship and provide fundamental information about who’s eligible and how to apply.” Patronato ACLI is a non-profit company that provide social services regarding Italian pension, immigration and fiscal matters. For details …

  Casa Italia in Stone Park will host a summer camp from June 16-20 and June 23-27. Campers ages 5-12 will learn about the language and culture of Italy through games, songs, sports, skits, cooking, and formal and informal lessons. Directed by Cav. Lyn Scolaro, a local language instructor with nearly 40 years of experience on the high school level, the camp will be staffed by certified teachers recruited from local high school language programs, as well as teacher’s assistants drawn from upper-level Italian classes. The camp will run Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. A registration fee of …

“Many hands make light work,” the Old Testament tells us, and that time-honored proverb is as true today as it was when the Jewish people rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls 2,500 years ago. For proof of that, you need look no further than Casa Italia during the holiday season. As many of you know, the village of Stone Park bought the property on which the Casa stands from the Missionaries of St. Charles in the waning months of 2024. Opinions may differ, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a win-win-win situation. The Scalabrinians have been well compensated and the village has …

  Defining her identity and pinpointing where she feels most at home — in Italy or the United States — has never been easy for Raffaella Spilotro, the director of the children’s summer camp at Casa Italia in Stone Park. That’s because, for the first nine years of her life, Spilotro grew up in Capurso, a small town in the province of Bari, Puglia, with her parents speaking only Italian. Her mother and father came with their families to America in the 1960s, met and married here, and decided to move back to Italy when she was 2 months hold. …

Maribel Weisz of Antique Resources and Stephanie Sarris of Bellehaven Designs will celebrate Italian American Heritage Month by hosting a charity event they’re calling “Che Bellezza! An Evening of Italian Culture and Murano.” The fundraiser will run from 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 19 at Antique Resources, 1741 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Boasting the largest collection of antique chandeliers in the Midwest, Antique Resources recently added a wide array of antique and vintage Murano glass chandeliers and accessories to its collection. “Maribel was so excited about her new Murano pieces, I suggested we host a party so people can find out …

Casa Italia volunteer and archivist Barbara Stasell has created an opera display in the first-floor library room in the Italian Cultural Center at the Casa. The figurines were created by Nora (“Norie”) Kalka, a local ceramicist who learned the craft during a short sojourn in California in the late 1940s. Back home in Chicago, Kalka hoped to continue her work, but the equipment and materials were only available at the time from suppliers on the West Coast. Buying them there and shipping them east, she set up her shop and developed her skills, making many gracefully imaginative pieces. “An interest …

A new day is dawning at Casa Italia as the village of Stone Park enters into negotiations with the Scalabrini Fathers to purchase the property bordered by Division Street and 39th, 37th and Soffel avenues. The Casa currently leases the property from the religious order. Plans for the property include a park district-style facility with banquet rooms and offices, police station, and pro-size soccer field and event pavilion, but the Casa isn’t going anywhere. The organization will consolidate operations in the building that houses the Italian Cultural Center. The oldest structure in Stone Park, the building will be brought up …

A wide range of Italian classes for both children and adults will be available across the Chicago area this fall. The Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia offers exploratory language classes for 5- to 7-year-olds, beginning classes for 8- to 12-year-olds, and intermediate and advanced classes for 12- to 14-year-olds. Locations include Addison, Carol Stream, Elmwood Park, Highwood and Lemont. Children’s classes run for 30 weeks from September 2023 to May 2024. Adult Italian classes include beginning, intermediate and advanced, and will be conducted exclusively online. Adult classes run for 16 weeks starting in mid-September and are two hours long. …

The Calabresi in America Organization is no stranger to high-profile, large-scale events, co-hosting a massive summer festival with Società San Francesco di Paola in August, a wildly popular trip to Calabria in September and a well-attended dinner dance in October. Smaller in scope, their St. Joseph Table still packs some fundraising wallop. More than 200 members and guests took part in this year’s event, which generated $5,000 in donations to Casa Italia. The check was presented by CIAO President Chris DeSanto (on the right in the photo) to Casa Chairman Ron Onesti at the Casa’s April board meeting.  

The Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia in Stone Park unveiled a restored and enhanced Italians in Chicago exhibit at an open house from 6-9 p.m. on May 12. Archivists Terry Quilico and Barbara Stasell began work on the project two years ago under the direction of the exhibit’s creator, ICC Library Curator Dominic Candeloro. “The exhibit was renovated in the 1990s, but due to the deterioration of some of the displays, we decided that further renovations were needed,” Candeloro says. “As work progressed, we realized that there were significant aspects of the history of Italians in Chicago that were …