Thoughts and opinions on all things Italian
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John Mancini – Founder and Executive Director
To Be a Classical People
The PBS series Secrets of the Dead aired a new episode on recent archeology around Great Zimbabwe (right), an area of stone ruins in the country of Zimbabwe, sub-Saharan Africa. The show is titled “Africa’s Golden City.” The ruins are ...
Bill Dal Cerro, Senior Analyst
Vox Populi
The Daily Herald, a newspaper that covers much of the northwest suburbs of Chicagoland, recently published an Op-Ed of mine written for Italian Heritage Month. Rather than discuss the usual battles over Columbus, I wanted to expand peoples' knowledge of ...
Rosario A. Iaconis, Senior Analyst
Christopher Columbus, Joe DiMaggio and me
Joe DiMaggio and actress Gina Lollobrigida greet crowds at New York's Columbus Day Parade on Oct. 14, 1991. Rosario's is behind the man with glasses.(AP Photo/Joe Major) Shakespeare’s St. Crispin’s Day soliloquy comes to mind when I think back to ...
Bob Masullo, Guest Author
Meeting a Hero
Francesco Lo Vecchio was the most successful singer to come out of Chicago. He sold millions of records, appeared in movies, had his own TV show and was a major part of the ’40s to ’69s era when Italian-Americans dominated ...
THEIR SONGS ENDED TOO SOON
Frank Sinatra lived to 82, Connie Francis to 87 and Tony Bennett to 96. Like many other Italian-American singers they were blessed with longevity. At least three, however, were not. They apparently were under a maledizione (Italian curse). Russ Columbo ...
ITALIAN-AMERICAN FIRSTS
Alfred E. Smith Who were the pioneer U.S. government officials with Italian roots? The answers are more than names that belong in history books. In a tangible way they provide a measure of how far Italian-Americans have come in the ...
