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The fifth annual Mokena Festa Italiana will be held on July 15. Last year’s event attracted more than 2,500 attendees, and an even larger crowd is expected this year. The festival is based on the traditional Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Melrose Park. The day will begin with an 11 a.m. procession from the Mokena Intermediate School at 11331...

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Chicago Symphony Orchestra audiences are accustomed to Riccardo Muti’s signing off for the season on a grandly upbeat note, such as he did last year when he closed the subscription series with a festive potpourri of Italian operatic favorites. For this year’s season finale, however, the music director is doing things differently. The scale remains...

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An officer in the Army for 20 years, Lorenzo Fiorentino was in charge of anti-terrorism at a base in Kabul that housed the Three Star General Command. The youngest of four children, Lorenzo Fiorentino was born in Casteldaccia, Sicily, to Pietro and Rosalia (Canale). His father became ill and could no longer work the farm, and in 1972, the family im...

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A sixth-generation Italian American with a profound connection to her roots, Carla Simonini, Ph.D., arrives in Chicago next month to lead Loyola University’s Italian-American Studies program. Complimenti! It took five years, a massive fund-raising campaign that netted $500,000 and a historic commitment by Loyola University of Chicago, but our metro...

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The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is proud to announce inductees and honorees for the 41st Annual Induction & Awards Gala to take place at a dinner on Saturday, November 3rd, in the Crystal Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.  The program will be emceed by 2016 Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza and New York Mets Radio Announcer...

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Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and County Commissioner Peter Silvestri recently presented Edward Lezza, Jr. with a resolution honoring the 113-year history of Lezza Spumoni & Desserts. The resolution reads: Whereas, the origin of Lezza’s famous spumoni is in Naples, Italy; and the recipe came to Chicago’s West Side with Salvatore Lezz...

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The Italian Trade Agency launches "Innovation Days 2018", initiative aimed at highlighting Italy's position as a top solution provider to the US while encouraging engagements between some of the country's leading companies and universities to create and further enhance existing partnerships with their US counterparts in commercial and research area...

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Gathering his family together for meals was important to Anthony Gattuso, so his family will bring coffee and the cream-filled Italian pastries known as pasticiotti to Queen of Heaven Cemetery on Father’s Day. They’ll meet at his mausoleum and talk about their patriarch, the star cook at the family restaurant, Paul’s Pizza & Hot Dogs in Westchester...

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The Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church will celebrate 125 unbroken years of devotion to the Blessed Mother from July 12 to 15. Festivities will culminate on July 15 with a 9 a.m. solemn Mass in the church celebrated by Cardinal Blase Cupich, a morning procession to a noon field Mass and a second procession following the Mass. A street festival will run...

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The Calabresi in America Organization came up aces at last year’s inaugural Casino Royale, inspiring the group to wager on another strong turnout this year. Aimed at raising funds for its scholarship program, this year’s event will take place on June 23 under the Festival Center pavilion at Casa Italia. The evening will kick off with a buffet dinne...

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