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Windy City crooner Sam Fazio will debut a newly discovered Cubs song before the team’s Aug. 2 matchup with the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. The performance will be part of the pregame entertainment that starts at 6 p.m. on Gallagher Way, right outside of the stadium. Titled “Come Out to Wrigley Field,” the tune was written by Pasquale “P.J.” P...

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The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans honored Vito Gargano at their general meeting on June 27. Gargano, 95, is the former president of the Italian American Federal Club, an organization comprising hundreds of federal employees of the United States Postal Service. Gargano’s career spans more than 40 years in the USPS. He started as a clerk...

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It's a postcard, 80-degree Chicago afternoon as I park my Divvy bike and cross the street to line up at Miko's Italian Ice in Chicago's Irving Park neighborhood. Line chatter considers the more exciting of the dozen-plus flavors on offer: "Ooh, they have hibiscus!" But today I'm craving the tart-sweet classic: lemon ice. The first fluffy spoonful e...

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In a show that joyously traffics in food porn, the Very Special Christmas episode of The Bear oddly features none. Throughout the season 2 flashback episode “Fishes,” the food imagery that exists is often utilitarian, swift, and violent. Meatballs angrily plop into a vat of roiling gravy, lobsters are audibly cracked in half, and a greasy artichoke...

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Riccardo Muti will become the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director emeritus for life starting next season. The announcement was made on the stage of Orchestra Hall on Friday night after a performance of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” the start of Muti’s final subscription weekend as music director. His tenure began with the 2010-11 season. Mu...

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A restaurant in Edgewater is serving up Italian street food, and bringing the community together, as it marks its first year in business. On the corner of Broadway and Ardmore, Edgewater has its very own slice of Italy. Sfera Sicilian Street Food just celebrated its first anniversary, and it's already become a neighborhood favorite. And to think it...

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The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish will celebrate the 130th anniversary of its devotion to the Blessed Mother on July 16. Festivities will begin with a 7:30 a.m. Mass in English and a 9 a.m. solemn Mass in Italian, followed by a procession with the statue to a noon field Mass. A procession through the streets of the parish afterward will culminate...

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A philanthropic powerhouse for more than 30 years, the Chicagoland Italian American Charitable Organization has bestowed nearly $900,000 in scholarships and tens of thousands of dollars more to veterans in need over the decades. In years past, most of those funds were raised at CIACO’s annual Honor and Hope gala, but last year the organization pivo...

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The middle of three children, Steven Decker was born in Chicago to Roy and Kathryn Tomasello Decker, who were living near North Avenue and Larrabee. When Decker was 3 years old, they moved to Logan Square, where he grew up living close to his Sicilian-born grandparents and his mother’s five siblings and their families. On Sunday mornings, Decker aw...

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Back in 1889, the automobile had barely been invented, and the airplane was still a gleam in the Wright brothers’ eyes. Yet, Italian immigrant Vincent Formusa had the foresight to found a company to meet his paesani’s growing demand for food products from their homeland. And so, V. Formusa Co. was launched at 710 W. Grand Ave. in Chicago. A century...

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