Robert Allegrini, the longest-serving member of the Milan-Chicago Sister City Committee, was named its co-chairman at the Chicago Sister Cities board meeting in February. First appointed to the committee by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1989, Allegrini has served under more than half a dozen committee chairs and worked with eight different Milan mayors to promote cultural and economic exchanges between the two cities.

In his capacity as co-chair, the former hospitality PR executive and Italian community advocate will be charged with forging closer ties between Chicago and Milan, official sister cities since 1973. Allegrini will be aided in those efforts by his Chicago co-chair, Texas Restaurant Association executive Joe Monastero, and his Milan co-chair, Princess Francesca Parvizyar.