Navy Captain and SEAL Anthony Lanzillotti
One of the select few to qualify for and successfully complete Navy SEAL training, Anthony Lanzillotti embarked on an illustrious career that spanned 37 years and included five deployments, tours of duty in 10 countries and an assignment at the Pentagon. The older of two children, Anthony Lanzillotti was born in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicag...
New exhibit opens for historic Little Italy Benton Harbor neighborhood
It's Opening Day for the Morton House Museum’s 2025 Season today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 501 Territorial Road, Benton Harbor, MI 49022. The Morton House Museum, “The Home of Benton Harbor History,” kicks off its 2025 season featuring this season’s exhibit: “Benton Harbor’s Little Italy: A Kaleidoscope of Cultures.” The Little Italy neighborhood...
Italian American Chamber of Commerce of Michigan Celebrates Four Nonagenarians
The Italian American Chamber of Commerce of Michigan (IACCM) celebrated the birthdays of four special members at their monthly meeting on May 7, 2025 at Fern Hill Golf Club in Clinton Township. These pillars of the Italian American community, all successful businessmen, are celebrating their 90th birthdays. Pictured from left to right are Dominic...
Celebration of Europe Day in Lansing, MI. The Italian Consul in Detroit, Spokesperson of the European Union in Michigan, receives a Proclamation from Governor Whitmer
Allegra Baistrocchi, the Italian Consul in Detroit and President of the European Union (EU) in Michigan, presided over the celebration of Europe Day today at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. The event commemorates the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, a visionary agreement signed on May 9, 1950, which gave birth to what is now the EU: a...
Rick Brunetto named Grand Marshal of 2025 Italian Festival Parade in Columbus Ohio
The Columbus Piave Club is proud to announce that acclaimed big band leader and Columbus music icon Rick Brunetto has been named the Grand Marshal of the 2025 Italian Festival Parade in Columbus Ohio, to be held on Sunday, October 12, the final day of this year’s Columbus Italian Festival, which runs October 10–12 in Italian Village. Brunetto, a be...
Let’s be sisters: Seven Hills mayor extends invitation to Italian town
Exactly 4,658 miles separate Seven Hills and the Italian municipality of Coreno Ausonio. That great divide is about to shrink, with Seven Hills Mayor Anthony D. Biasiotta recently proposing a sister city partnership. The selection of the community located roughly halfway between Rome and Naples isn’t by accident. “That’s the hometown of my grandfat...
The Italian American Cultural Club of Steubenville 100 years to honor members
The Italian American Cultural Club will celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary with a special event planned for May 18 at St. Florian Hall in Wintersville, OH. Founded in 1925 as the Steubenville Dramatic Club, in which members performed a variety of Italian operas, the organization has evolved throughout the years. During the 40’s, the clu...
Songs of Home: From Italy to the U.S.A.
For this week’s edition of “Songs of Home,” I go back to a home that was home for my ancestors before their immigration to Chicago and the tunes they brought with them. My mother is half Sicilian and my father is Sicilian and Calabrese. It is safe to say that I grew up Italian-American, and I’m forever proud that I did. More so, I’m proud that I gr...
Chicago Park District to loan Columbus statue to Italian American group for museum, end lawsuit
The Chicago Park District has reached a deal to end a lawsuit over the removal of Chicago's Christopher Columbus statues. The City of Chicago, which owns the statues, will not be bringing the statues back to their former sites in Grant Park and Arrigo Park. But the city will loan the statue that was removed from Arrigo Park, at Polk and Loomis stre...
I-A Literati to spotlight local writers
“I-A Literati 2025,” Casa Italia’s 21st annual celebration of local Italian-American authors, will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 17 in the Florentine Room of the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia. The event will begin with a meet-and-greet with the writers, followed by the keynote address and presentations. Additional activities include...
Valenti a pro bono attorney without borders
Over the last two decades, Thomas P. Valenti has put his arbitration and mediation skills to use across the globe, traveling to places like Greece and India, and now helping young people in Afghanistan via online mentoring. Valenti is a Chicago-based dispute resolution specialist who has held a law license since 1977. He first worked as a trial att...
A month to remember
May has always been a special month for St. Anthony graduates. I recall when I began writing Petals from Roseland many years ago that my May column struck a chord. The column brought back food memories for many St .Anthony’s parishioners so I’m rerunning it here today. I asked a few St Anthony’s girls for their memories of the May crowning and all...