Chicago Italians

After learning that my favorite pizza joint in all the world had been sold and closed has broken my heart!!! From the time I was a young man many a pizza, cheezy beef or even a dozen baked clams were a 3 time a week thing for as long as I remember, The original owners Jim and Anna were some remarkable and the very best a local town cold ask for. As a owner or helper of many town events Jim and Anna always were there to chip in. I worked for them for many years and have many many fond and fun memories of the fun all had working at this premier pizza and Italian food extravaganza, Later in the years my late daughter Dawn also had to work there, Now that I live in Arizona I always plan my trips home to Chicago with a Village pizza and a Gene and Judes hot dog, But never to have a Village pizza again..............so on that note thank you Village Pizza for being a great part of growing u and beyond.....................Michael

The first Italian to travel through the future site of Chicago was explorer Enrico Tonty (Tonti) in 1681 sailing under the French flag.

Oak Park native Dan Castellaneta supplies the voice of cartoon character Homer Simpson.

Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini, who founded hospitals and schools in Chicago and died there, is the first American citizen to be canonized a saint in 1946.

The Radio Flyer Red Wagon, a symbol of American childhood, was produced by Antonio Pasin, an immigrant from Venice whose company is still being run by his grandsons on Chicago's West Side.

A group of Italian American businessmen and community leaders formed the White Hand Society in 1907 to fight Black Hand extortion.

Carl Laemmle, the founder of Hollywood's Universal Studios in 1906, received his inspiration while visiting Dan Ligarda's Nickelodeon movie theater on Halsted and Taylor Streets.

Two of Chicago's most respected "top cops” are Italian Americans: former Police Superintendent Joe DiLeonardi and Melrose Park Police Chief Bill Jaconetti.

The famous Pickwick movie theater in Park Ridge, used as the backdrop for Roger Ebert's "At the Movies," was designed by Alfonso Ianelli, a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The black boxes found on all commercial U.S. airplanes were manufactured at the DeMuro Brothers Electronics Factory in suburban Melrose Park.

Vito Bertoldi of downstate Illinois is one of 14 Medal of Honor winners from World War Two.

Amabile Piguri Santacaterina, one of Chicago’s s most popular Italian radio broadcasters in the 1940s, was recruited by the FBI to aid in the war effort.

Chicago clarinetist, Joe Marsala, had the first integrated band on 52nd St. in New York City in 1936. Marsala also brought the first integrated band into NYC's Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1937

Judge Nicholas Bua ruled against patronage in Chicago's City Hall in the 1970s.

Chicago-born operatic soprano Vivian Della Chiesa was so popular that she had her own national radio show during the 1930s.

Baker and businesswoman Serafina Ferrara, known as the "Angel of Taylor Street," organized thousands of weddings throughout her lifetime.

Certified Grocers is the largest grocery cooperative in the entire nation organized by Henry Vinci in the 1960s.

Every musician in the U.S. receives royalty payments on his of her recordings, a condition fought for, and achieved, back in the 1930s under James Petrillo, head of the American Federation of Musicians.

One of six members of the Italian Parliament representing Italians abroad, Senator Ron Turano’s territory extends from Alaska to Panama.

Actor Gary Sinise, Steppenwolf director Frank Galati, and Drury Lane producer Tony DeSantis are just a few of the artists of Italian descent who helped create Chicago’s vibrant theater scene.

Gerald Arpino relocated his renowned Joffrey Ballet to Chicago, joining already established dance troupes led by Lou Conte and Gus Giordano.

Oscar-nominated actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio is an Oak Park native.

Singer Carol Lawrence, née Laraia, grew up in Melrose Park and originated the role of Maria in the first Broadway production of West Side Story in 1959.

Educator and principal Claude Mazzocco, born on the city’s East Side, founded and served as first president of the Illinois Middle School Association.

Mario Nello Buoniconti turned an old movie theater on Chicago’s West Side into Ferrara Manor, one of Chicago’s largest banquet halls.

Raymond and Connie DeGrazia opened up a pizzeria in the early 1950s, “Connie’s Pizzas,” credited with popularizing the then-obscure food pie.

South Side singer Peter Cetera became the recognizable voice of the popular rock band Chicago.

The late Henry Palmisano,born in Bridgeport and chief accountant at the family-run Henry’s Sports & Bait/Henry’s Marine, became a well-known activist who campaigned against commercial netting of perch fish in Lake Michigan.

Emma Tranter moved from Detroit to Chicago, where she formed the environmental activist group “Friends of the Park.”

Born in the suburb of Batavia, Frank Perna worked in his family’s Batavia West Side Market , one of the earliest businesses in that suburb), became a successful shoe-store owner, later spending the rest of his career as a high-ranking military official at the Pentagon.

As chair of the Chicago Mailers Union from 1968-1978, Peter Giangrosso negotiated contracts for newspaper workers, shared drinks with columnist Mike Royko, and delighted his Bridgeport neighbors by playing Big Band tunes on a Wurlitzer organ in his window.

Sam Cascio served as the legendary doorman at Chicago’s Hilton Hotel for over 60 years, greeting everyone from ordinary citizens to presidents.

Pianist Lennie Tristano, drummer Louis Bellson and violinist Johnny Frigo all made unique contributions to jazz music.

Dominick DeMatteo’s popular grocery store of the same name made the transition from small local business to one of the first supermarket chains.

Attorney Lawrence Pusateri was the first Italian American president of the 32,000 member Illinois State Bar Association.

Dino D’Angelo was a lawyer and philanthropist who refurbished the Chicago Civic Opera House, now called the Lyric Opera building.

Lawrence Pucci and his sister, Caryl Pucci Rettaliata, run Pucci Inc., one of the oldest custom-clothing firms in the nation.

Jazz, blues and pop singer Frankie Laine was born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio to Sicilian parents on Chicago’s West Side.

Lee Artoe drop-kicked a field goal for 52 yards while playing tackle for the famous 1941 Chicago Bears National Football team, an historic record set in the days before placekickers relied on a holder

Original Ferrara Bakery, Inc. 2210 W. Taylor St. Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: (312) 666-2200 Fax: (312) 666-2008 Email:nella@ferrarabakery.com

Salvatore Ferrara was just 16 years old when he left his home in Nola, Italy in 1900 and emigrated to the United States. He brought with him the art of Italian pastry making and confectionery, skills which would eventually lead him to open the first Italian pastry and candy shop on Taylor Street in Chicago's Little Italy. An instant success, he was recognized throughout the city and suburbs for his fine pastries, wedding cakes and confections.

He soon met and married Serafina Pagano and they labored together to provide Chicago with wonderful desserts and candies. Through hard work and commitment to the use of quality ingredients, they made a lasting name for themselves. Serafina, a dynamic business personality and philanthropist, was loved by all who knew her and was known as "The Angel of Halsted Street". She is still remembered today.




Eager to meet new challenges, Salvatore put Serafina in charge of the bakery and concentrated his efforts on expanding the candy business. With the help of his two brothers-in-law, Salvatore Buffardi and Agnello Pagano, they launched the Ferrara Pan Candy Company, now headquartered in Forest Park, Illinois. Still family owned and operated, the company, which manufactures such favorites as Lemonheads and Atomic Fireballs, distributes worldwide.
The third generation of Ferraras proudly carries on the tradition of providing its customers with a wide variety of delicious desserts of the highest quality. Ferrara's Signature Italian Cannoli Cake has become a tradition for thousands, enjoyed through the generations.

Just as Salvatore did when he began in 1908, we take extreme pride in preparing our products with only the freshest and purest ingredients. We use the finest imported spices and never any artificial flavorings or preservatives. Our products will certainly add that elegant crowning touch that sets your wedding or special event apart from the rest.


We've created thousands of wedding cakes.
Let us create a special cake for you.


Let Ferrara be a part of your special occasion. Our experienced staff can offer excellent advice whether you're planning a small intimate gathering or catering a wedding for thousands.

Using only the purest and freshest ingredients, our master bakers will design the cake of your dreams from a simple round layer cake or sheet cake to an elaborate tiered cake using design elements such as elegant columns, fountains, or stairways. You can choose one of our classic creations or create one of your own from hundreds of combinations using our delicious fresh or preserved fruit fillings, custards and icings.


Sweet Table Favorites
Exquisite morsels perfectly sized for your Sweet Table: Eclairs
Assorted Fruit Tartlets
Bowties
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Chocolate Mousse
Cannoli
Butter Cookies
Creme Puffs
Italian Cookies
Pecan Brownies
Cheesecake Bites
Chocolate Covered Almonds


A wide variety of delicious pastries, to name a few:
Full Size Pastries
Cannoli
Napoleon
Baba au Rhum
Pasticiotto
Eclair
Sfogliatella
Cassata al Forno
Funghi
Tiramisu
Cheesecake
Creme Puff
Monachine
Profiterole
Creme Horns



European Pastry Miniatures
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Pineapple Tartlets
Raspberry Tartlets
Petits Fours
Zuppette (Lemon Creme)
Napoleons (Bavarian Creme)
Monachine (cannoli filled)
Eclairs (vanilla custard)
Baba au Rhum
Baba au Rhum with custard
Cannoli
Cassata al Forno
Creme Puffs (pineapple-whip)
Chocolate Cannoli
Sfogliatella
Choux, custard filled
Choux, custard filled-frosted
Choux, cannoli filled
Choux, cannoli filled-frosted
White Jordan Almonds
Marzipan





Cookies
Italian Fancy Butter Cookies
Chocolate Chip
Butter with Peanuts
Cherry Top Sandwich
Chocolate Star
Sprinkles
Clover
Assorted Dots
Pecan Butter
Vanilla Horseshoes
Chocolate Horseshoe
Pink Hearts
Brown Sugar Chips
Powdered Crescents
Chocolate Dip Almond Bars
Chocolate Shells
Vanilla Shells

Italian Specialty Cookies
Cashew Bars
Amaretti Classico
Pignolati
Bow Ties
Pineapple Slices
Apricot Farfalla
Raspberry Farfalla
Cucidadi (fig filled)
Tetu
Gigolene
Quaresimale
Tarallo
Frosted Tarallo
Coconut Macaroons



Biscotti
Anise
Anise Almond
Chocolate Almond
Vanilla Almond Raisin
Chocolate Cherry Almond




Are you Drooling yet?? If not you are Morte

Original Ferrara Bakery, Inc. 2210 W. Taylor St. Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: (312) 666-2200 Fax: (312) 666-2008 Email:nella@ferrarabakery.com

Fra Noi has been the newspaper of record for the Chicago area Italian-American community for more than four decades. Each month, we provide our readers with all the information they need to keep in touch with each other, their community and their heritage. Fra Noi fosters a sense of awareness, identity, unity and pride among Italian Americans, spotlighting their accomplishments and defending their reputation against defamation and sterotyping. My family has been recieving this paper for as long as I can remeber and I just turned 50, And have seen it at all friends house, Life in the Chicago Italian Community is well versed by the integrity of such a fine newspaper.

When Alfredo and Ada Capitanini opened the Italian Village 79 years ago, Chicago's Loop was a far different place. Tall buildings were few, the Loop was the epicenter of Chicagos business activity and few people knew much about Italian food or wine. Almost none of the landmark hotels, restaurants and theaters that thrived in the Loop then exist today. So the longevity of the Village is a testament to strong family legacy, a philosophy of changing with the times and reinvesting energy and resources into the business. Thanks to a constantly evolving vision that has included adding two new restaurants and developing a premium wine program, Italian Village Restaurants thrives today.

Wine always has been part of the Italian Village menu mix, but forward thinking lead to the development of one of the best wine programs in the U.S. today.

"In the old days it was all Bolla, B&G, Ruffino and Gallo, the basic wines that everybody expected to get at an Italian restaurant," says Al Capitanini, managing partner, who runs the financial side of the business. "My uncle Ray had the foresight in the early eighties to see that wine was going to be a big thing. He bought wines in 1986 that we still have today in the cellar." The cellar was built in 1982, a move that has proven brilliant since it enabled the development of a premier wine collection that has consistently won national awards, including from the Distinguished Restaurants of North America and the 2002 Cheers Award for Best Independent Wine Program.

At the very core of the success of the Italian Village Restaurants wine program is the commitment to education. It was something they lacked before wine director Ron Balter came on board, and one of the big reasons he was hired. "Education is the number one most important thing. It's fundamental. You can have a billion wines, but if your staff doesn't know anything about them, or how to sell them, you are never going to move them," Balter says.

"Before Ron came, we would bring in the distributors to talk about grape varietals etc., but the staff only learned about the wines the sales person was trying to sell. Those wines would sell, but the other wines on the list didn't" Capitanini says. "We now have the luxury of having someone teach them about all wines. If we want to talk about Bordeaux or about charclonnay, they learn about all the wines in that category, not just one brand."

Balter's first task was to teach the staff about both service and wine varieties. He first taught a class he calls Vino 101 that covers the mechanics of how to taste wine, through the actual tasting including the how tos of seeing, smelling, tasting and asses sing the wine. Vino 201 covers how to serve wine-every thing from approaching the table to setting the table properly for wine, understanding glassware, knowing serving temperature, examining the bottle for problems and the actual service. A class in pairing wine with food follows.

These classes are taught to new hires as well as established employees, who must work one on one with Balter along with shadowing a seasoned server. "We like new hires to have some wine knowledge, but sometimes it's easier working with a blank canvas, with someone who hasn't developed bad habits," he says.

Twice a week, Balter holds classes for the entire service staff on a wine from a particular region. "We go in themes. One month we may cover Tuscan wines, another a month of dessert wine, a month of Burgundy etc. We cover wines from Germany, Spain, France, the U.S., all over," Balter says. In the months when a particular wine is covered, the sales for that wine can go up 80%

TASTE AND SEE

Twice a month he has the staff do blind tastings. Balter uses the protocol of a Master Sommelier analysis, teaching the staff to do blind tastings, to analyze a wine by criteria they learn in Vino 101 and draw conclusions so that they can identify the wine.

"Servers get good enough that they become quite accurate in the blind tastings," he says. "When you give people different cuts of steak to taste, they can evaluate based on fat content, flavor and sight. If people can tell the difference between different kinds of steak, they can do it with wine. People get intimidated by wine, but when they are trained and let their intuition take over, when you remove the pomp and circumstance associated with wine, they are able to trust themselves. It costs a lot of money to train this way, but you make so much more money if you spend the money to train."

FROM THEN....

The Village opened in 1927 with a philosophy of simple, good food, in ample portions with efficient, courteous service. The decor of that restaurant (reminiscent of a street in an Italian village, complete with a "star-studded" sky) along with the food, has changed little since its opening.

La Cantina Enoteca was restaurant number two, opened in the building's lower level by the second generation, Alfredo's sons Frank and Ray. The focus of this menu-seafood and fish dishes of southern Italy. The final addition, also opened by the second generation Capitaninis, was The Florentine Room with a focus on gourmet Italian cuisine. The baton was passed on to the third generation eight years ago, Frank's children Al, Gina and Frank, who in 1990, transformed the staid Florentine Room into Vivere, a showcase for contemporary Italian cuisine with a Baroque-Daliesque decor designed by Chicago designer Jordon Mozer.

Early Labor & Business
Italians worked in construction, on the railroad and in the factories that proliferated around the city while others went into the small trades. Before 1900, unskilled workers sometimes fell prey to padroni, labor agents who found work for their compatriots, often for an exorbitant fee. Women worked alongside men in the garment industry, second only to New York City, which spawned one of the largest strikes in Chicago history led by three Italians. Success came to early entrepreneurs such as Giovanni Garibaldi and Frank Cuneo, who together created the largest fruit and nut wholesale business in the United States.

Public Image
From the start, Italians were considered racially inferior to white Europeans and public debates in academic circles and the media carried on unheeded for decades. Rampant anti-immigrant sentiment brought about The Immigration Act of 1924 and Chicago’s Italian Americans moved to defeat it. The small percentage of criminal elements active in the Italian American community, Black Hand practitioners and those who came up during the Prohibition Era, only lodged prejudices more firmly in the public’s mind. The most publicized protest from the community came in 2001 when the Chicago-based American Italian Defamation Association (AIDA) sued Time Warner for distributing HBO’s hit series The Sopranos because of its negative portrayal of Italian Americans.

Italo Balbo’s Flight
Balbo’s headline-grabbing transatlantic flight from Italy to Chicago during the 1933 World’s Fair brought unprecedented prestige to the Italian Colony. While it reinforced italianità among Chicago Italians, their reaction to the escalating threat of war in Europe would soon demonstrate their overwhelming allegiance to America.

Neighbhood Life
Popular processions of saints, or feste, brought the community together each year to celebrate deeply held traditions and customs and enjoy favorite foods with family and friends. Hundreds of organizations from mutual-aid societies and sports clubs to business groups and regional associations helped Italian Americans maintain strong cultural ties. The love of opera cut across class lines and many Italian Americans grew up listening to the great voices of a bygone era like Enrico Caruso, Luisa Tetrazzini and Chicago’s Vivian Della Chiesa, who made her debut in the Chicago Opera in 1936.

Our Lady of the Angels Fire
On December 1, 1958, fire swept through a Catholic grammar school in a West Side neighborhood with a large Italian-American population, killing 92 children and 3 nuns. The tragedy brought about changes in fire safety standards in American schools, but it also sparked a mass exodus of families from the neighborhood, a trend that brought about the demise of the city’s Italian Colonies in the ensuing decades.

Politics
Before World War II, the Italian American community produced only a handful of political leaders, among them Vito Marzullo, a strong ally of Mayor Daley who went on to become a state representative and alderman. Frank Annunzio was the most visible political figure for many decades who fervently promoted Italian American causes throughout his three decades in office. One unwitting figure to venture into local politics is Florence Scala. A tailor’s daughter, Scala took on City Hall to protest the building of the University of Illinois campus, which eventually destroyed her Taylor Street neighborhood and most of the Hull House complex. Today’s Italian Americans leaders like Senator James DeLeo, Senate Majority Leader Debbie DeFrancesco Halvorson, Representative Skip Saviano, and Schiller Park mayor Anna Montana remain committed to serving diverse constituencies while maintaining close ties to their ethnic identity.

History

Italians first began coming to Chicago in the 1850’s. By the end of the 19th century, they were immigrating to Chicago from Italy in rapidly increasing numbers. In 1900, there were 16,008 Italians in the city. By 1930 that number had multiplied by almost five. Most of these immigrants held labor-intensive jobs; they worked for the railroad, for factories and at construction sites.

While Italian immigrants settled all over the city, the area now known as Little Italy saw the greatest concentration. As these immigrants settled and became more prosperous, they began to have an impact on the city. The Italian Socialist Federation was established in 1908, and by the early 1900’s there were several Italian parishes around Chicago. The increased activity of the Italian mafia in the 1920’s also brought Italians to prominence. The Italian Welfare Council was established in 1945; this was changed to the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans in 1952, and along with over 150 other Italian organizations, caters to the cultural and professional needs of Italian Americans in Chicago.

Little Italy is bordered on the north by the Eisenhower Expressway, on the east by the Kennedy Expressway, on the south by Roosevelt Road and on the west by Polk Street.

Community

The Little Italy community is densely populated and diverse. While many of the inhabitants of the area are students attending the University of Illinois at Chicago, there remains a significant number of Italian families living in the area. As the neighborhood becomes more affluent, young professionals have also begun to buy condominium space in the area.

The University of Illinois at Chicago is a major part of Little Italy; with over 25,000 students enrolled at the university, it is one of the largest in Chicago. A university with a strong reputation, UIC attracts a mix of students. UIC Medical Center is part of the largest medical district in Chicago; it also includes Rush University Medical Center and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital, the Illinois Medical Center, Cook County Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital.

Little Italy is a proud neighborhood; there are landmarks around the area that showcase Italian nationalism and culture. The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, founded in 1977, is “dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and heritage of Italian Americans in sports.” The Hall of Fame includes the Tommy and Jo Lasorda Exhibit Gallery, the Grand Piazza Ballroom, the Salvatore A. Balsamo Rooftop Terrace and the new Frank Sinatra Performing Arts Center.

Across the street from the Hall of Fame is the Piazza DiMaggio, built in 1998 as a gift from the City of Chicago to the Little Italy area. In the piazza is a much-photographed sculpture of Joe DiMaggio. Another landmark in the area is the Our Lady of Pompeii Church, a community center and shrine to Mary. Open to people of all faiths, the center is devoted to providing a refuge for prayer and education. Nearby is Arrigo Park, a 6-acre park whose main attraction is a large sculpture of Christopher Columbus. Named for Victor Arrigo, an Italian American who served as Illinois State Representative, the park is a picturesque haven in the midst of Little Italy.

While Chicago’s Little Italy is not a large neighborhood, it is well known in the city for its excellent cuisine. Certain restaurants along Taylor Street are especially well-known; these include Rosebud’s, Pompeii, Tuscany and Francesca’s. Dining at one of these, there is a sense of history and pleasure mingled with the knowledge that the establishment has been around for a long time. Serving good, hearty food is something the neighborhood does well.

Although less-exclusively Italian than in its early days, Little Italy is a popular part of the city offering a proud Italian culture and cuisine to locals and visitors alike.


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The Italian’s first came to Chicago in the late eighteen hundreds, first a slow trickle, then eventually a steady stream. When they arrived, those aliens from Italia settled into neighborhoods occupied by their fellow Europeans primarily on the Near North and Near West sides of the city.

Predominantly Roman Catholic, their primary goal was to connect with a church of their denomination. But where were the Italian Catholic churches? None were to be found. These early Italian settlers did not find compatibility with churches whose composition was Irish, Polish, German, Lithuanian, French, or Czech. They desired their own church. Finally, by the late 1870's, after expressing their desire to the Chicago hierarchy, an Italian Servite priest by the name of Sosteneus Moretti offered his time and energy to locating a site for a future church to serve the growing population of Chicago Italians. Eventually, in 1880, a parcel of land at 323 W. Illinois Street near Market Street North of the Chicago River was purchased. The following year, the basement foundation was completed. In 1883, the church services commenced there. Later it would serve as the church hall.

During the next several years, the Italians donated their nickels and dimes so the main church structure could rise above the existing foundation. In 1883, a rectory was added to the project and finally in 1886, the church rose above the foundation. On the feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1886, the Corinthian style architectural structure was dedicated appropriately as the Assumption Church, Chicago’s first Italian Catholic Church. The Italians called it “Assunta” and left no doubt in everyone’s mind this was “their church”. The first pastor was the same Fr. Moretti O.S.M. who spearheaded the effort six years earlier.

The church’s main exterior feature is the stately 78 foot high bell tower. Extensive use of stained glass windows are featured throughout the church. Above the main altar, a window portrays the Assumption of Our Lady with twenty three angels. Paintings, mosaics and murals also are very prominent including on the church ceiling. The altar rail contained five different types of Italian marble. Statues adorned the church on three sides and numbered a dozen.

Since Assumption was not only Chicago’s first Italian Catholic Church, and the only Italian church, it attracted Italians from not only the adjacent Near North neighborhood, but also from the other scattered “Little Italy’s” in Chicago. It soon became the center for a variety of Italian activities. The neighborhood surrounding the church was comprised mainly of Northern Italians, the first group to arrive in Chicago. They were immigrants from Genoa and Tuscany.

A parish school was founded in 1899 by the Italian Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

The Mother General of this order was no less than Francis Xavier Cabrini. Since land was not available adjacent to the church or rectory, space was purchased a short distance away, at 317 W. Erie Street. The school was overcrowded when it opened with 900 children. Mother Carbini also taught catechism every Sunday to 600 children who attended public schools.

The parish had a population of 20,000 Italian emigrants and their families. Seven Servite priests staffed Assumption to meet the spiritual needs of so many. At times, as many as 32 babies were baptized on a Sunday afternoon. The number of weddings and funerals grew to an astounding number. But as time passed, circumstances began to change at Assumption. The neighborhood began to become industrial and with it, a loss of parishioners. By 1945 the school, once bursting at the seams, closed it’s doors forever. But not once during the 46 years did it charge even one student tuition.

Today, 115 years later, the Assumption Church still stands as a pillar of spirituality for the Near North Side community, now called River North, though it no longer is an Italian church. Many decades ago, the original settlers died off and their descendants moved away. Now, the parish consists of a melting pot of generic nationalities, many of which are referred to as yuppies. Rather than a beacon of visibility in a poor neighborhood of homes and businesses, the church today is almost invisible in a canyon of glass, steel and concrete high rises virtually unnoticed in the shadow the grandiose Merchandise Mart. Despite it’s lack of prominence and the loss of it’s Italian identity, the spirit of Assumption remains in the minds, hearts and souls of countless Italian Americans.

By the way, those dedicated priests of the Servants of Mary.....they’re still there.

Coco Pazzo Italian 15/20
300 W. Hubbard St.
Chicago, IL 60610
312-836-0900
RESERVE NOW!
Coco Pazzo presents the depth and breadth of the grand repertoire of Italian cooking.

Gabriel's Italian 15/20
310 Green Bay Rd.
Highwood, IL 60040
847-433-0031
RESERVE NOW!
Elegant, showy North suburban favorite that also boasts a fab wine selection.

Gioco Italian 14/20
1312 S. Wabash St.
Chicago, IL 60605
312-939-3870
RESERVE NOW!
Solid, inventive Italian eatery in the South Loop that specializes in superb seafood.

I Gemelli Italian 13/20
32 E. Lake St.
Addison, IL 60101
630-832-2131
Italian eatery with sublime risotto, fresh seafood and fine crostatas.

Rose Angelis Italian 12/20
1314 W. Wrightwood Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
773-296-0081
Popular among daters and cost-conscious diners, this Italian restaurant also appeals to vegetarians.

Spiaggia Italian 16/20
One Magnificent Mile, 2nd Fl.
980 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
312-280-2750
RESERVE NOW!
Expensive but special occasion-worthy, this restaurant attracts well-heeled sophisticates.

Trattoria No. 10 Italian 15/20
10 N. Dearborn St.
Chicago, IL 60602
312-984-1718
RESERVE NOW!
The homemade ravioli served here will leave you on cloud nine.

Va Pensiero Italian 14/20
Margarita Inn
1566 Oak Ave.
Evanston, IL 60201
847-475-7779
RESERVE NOW!
Expect outstanding homemade pasta that’s offered along with a solid list of entrées and desserts.

Vinci Italian 13/20
1732 N. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60614
312-266-1199
RESERVE NOW!
A fine take on pan-Italian threatens to make this rustic spot a regular haunt.

Vivere Italian 14/20
The Italian Village, 1st Fl.
71 W. Monroe St.
Chicago, IL 60603
312-332-4040
Complex Italian dishes shine at this first-floor fine dining establishment in the Italian Village restaurant trio.

I'm a non-Italian living in suburban Chicago. I just can't seem to fine a good recipe for Chicago's famous Italian beef sandwiches. Can you help?

If you’re in Chicago and not Italian, you should be getting your Italian beef sandwiches from Italians. It’s us non-Chicagoan non-Italians who should be resorting to recipes.

And we’re just likely to get into trouble answering this one. The problem is, we have dozens of recipes — which is the right one? Which is most authentic? Which is best? As always, it comes down to a matter of personal preference. Here’s our choice:



Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich

Ingredients:

1 5-lb rump roast
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups beef stock
1 Tbsp fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
1 tsp hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 to 6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp fresh basil (optional)
Italian bread or rolls

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 300°F (160°C). Dry the roast, season it with salt and pepper, and place it on a rack in a roasting pan. Strew the onion over the top of the roast and put the pan in the oven. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat reads 140°F (60°C). Remove the roast to a platter or cutting board, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest for a half hour.


Leave the roasting juices in the roasting pan and add all the other ingredients except the bread. On the top of the stove, heat and simmer the mixture for 15 to 20 minutes, adding any juices that collect from the resting beef.

Slice the beef thinly, and arrange the slices in a dish. Strain the juice mixture, pour it over the beef, and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours.

Heat the roast beef and sauce thoroughly. Put the sliced beef on Italian bread or rolls and spoon some of the sauce on top or serve it alongside for dipping.

Some recipes recommend adding grilled green pepper slices to the sandwich or a giardinera relish (made from pickled Greek peppers, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, celery, turnips, red peppers, olives and onions).

BiCE Ristorante

158 E Ontario St, Chicago, IL 60611 · 312-664-1474


Avg. Entrée: $$$16 - $30
Reservations: Recommended
Dress: BCBC: Business Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
MAGNIFICENT MILE. Italian management recreates Milan's original Bice at this Michigan Avenue outpost. The stylish place offers sleek Art Deco touches and attentive service. Try an authentic risotto, carpaccio of tuna or swordfish, Milanese veal chop, or a sampler of four delectable pastas. All desserts are made on the premises, and homemade ice cream is particularly noteworthy. EL: Red Line to Grand/State


Caliterra Bar & Grille

633 N St. Clair St, Wyndham Chicago, Chicago, IL 60611 · 312-274-4444

Avg. Entrée: $$$$31 - $50
Reservations: Recommended
Dress: BCBC: Business Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
STREETERVILLE. This hotel eatery's tasty menu adds Californian style to Italian standards. The seasonal menu changes each month, and on Sundays, the kitchen is abuzz preparing for an over-the-top Sunday brunch. Plus, live jazz can be heard in the Calittera Bar. If you're feeling indulgent, dine at the chef's table, which seats 18 amid racks of wine bottles. The full bar serves draft and bottled beers, Scotch, bourbon, and over 100 wine varieties.




Campagnola

815 Chicago Ave, Evanston, IL 60202 · 847-475-6100


Avg. Entrée: $$$16 - $30
Reservations: Recommended
Dress: BCBC: Business Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
EVANSTON. The small dining room fills up quickly with patrons eager to enjoy the creative dishes of chef Michael Alternberg. The name means "country-style," and that's just what you get – rustic, wood-laden surroundings, complete with some cozy looking couches, and the best of bold Italian cooking. Try grilled calamari with tapenade, wood-grilled sardines, or wood-grilled Muscovy duck with organic vegetables. Simple but amazing desserts, including white chocolate rhubarb cake or an elegant cheese plate.


Coco Pazzo

300 W Hubbard St, Chicago, IL 60610 · 312-836-0900

Avg. Entrée: $$$16 - $30
Reservations: Recommended
Dress: BCBC: Business Casual

Outdoor Dining:
RIVER NORTH. Perfect for special occasions, this restaurant focuses on hearty Tuscan cuisine. The dining room has a spacious, airy interior, upscale but still comfortable. The food is full of assertive flavors, as evidenced by dishes like pappardelle with rabbit, roast pancetta-rolled pork loin, and herb-crusted half rack of lamb with artichokes and fried polenta. Any of the grilled game dishes is sure to please. The most popular dessert is cioccolato fondente, a chocolate volcano ready to erupt as soon as your fork hits it.

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Francesca's on Taylor


1400 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60607 · 312-829-2828

Avg. Entrée: $$$16 - $30
Reservations: Recommended
Dress: BC, CBC: Business Casual
C: Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
LITTLE ITALY. This neighborhood charmer earns high marks for its traditional trattoria atmosphere, friendly service, and Northern Italian and Tuscan-inspired fare. Start off with an appetizer of mussels in spicy tomato sauce before moving on to heartier matters, like pollo limone, rigatoni melanzane with roasted eggplant and mozzarella, and salmone pagliacci with broccoli, eggplant, garlic, and white wine.


Gabriel's

310 Green Bay Rd, Highwood, IL 60040-1305 · 847-433-0031



Avg. Entrée: $$$16 - $30
Reservations: Recommended
Dress: BCBC: Business Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
HIGHWOOD. Cuisines collide at this refined restaurant, namely French and Italian. The open kitchen allows guests to see masterful chefs at work, preparing everything from a veal porterhouse to pastas and seafood dishes. The menu changes seasonally to take advantage of the freshest ingredients, and when the weather permits, tables on the patio are decked out with flowers and linen.

O'Famé

750 W Webster Ave, Chicago, IL 60614 · 773-929-5111



Avg. Entrée: $$1 - $15
Reservations: Available
Dress: BCBC: Business Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
LINCOLN PARK. This family-owned and -operated Italian restaurant has been satisfying Chicago diners for well over 20 years, thanks to thin-crust pizzas, homemade pastas, efficient service, and speedy carryout. Appetizers like stuffed artichokes and steamed clams are just a warm-up for goodies like eggplant parmigiano, chicken cacciatore, and hearty steak specials.


Pompei Bakery
1531 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60607 · 312-421-5179


Avg. Entrée: $$1 - $15
Reservations: Not Accepted
Dress: CC: Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
LITTLE ITALY. This cafeteria-style restaurant has a well-deserved reputation for putting out some of the area's best pizzas, breads, and desserts. The menu includes appetizers, soups, salads, pizzas, sandwiches, pastas, and desserts. Try a stuffed pizza, like "The Works" or the "Beef Angelo." Homemade pastas topped with savory Italian sausage or meatballs are a perfect solution for times when only good old-fashioned Italian will do. Just looking for something sweet? Order a slice of Italian chocolate sheet cake or try a chocolate-dipped cannoli.

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Spiaggia

980 N Michigan Ave, 2nd fl, Chicago, IL 60611 · 312-280-2750

Avg. Entrée: $$$$31 - $50
Reservations: Required, Recommended
Outdoor Dining: None
MAGNIFICENT MILE. For luxurious, upscale Italian dining, Spiaggia is a top pick. One of the town's most romantic dining rooms, it features sparkling platinum-and-white decor, sculpted steel light fixtures, and fantastic Lake Michigan views. The food is simplicity at its best, crafted with the finest aged cheeses, the freshest produce, and wonderful pastas. Delicious dishes include roasted scallops with Parmigiano Reggiano, tenderloin of rabbit, and an unforgettable citrus sea bass. Perfect wines, impeccable service, and irresistible desserts make this restaurant a winner in every category.


Va Pensiero

1566 Oak Ave, Margarita European Inn, Evanston, IL 60202 · 847-475-7779



Avg. Entrée: $$$16 - $30
Reservations: Recommended
Dress: BCBC: Business Casual

Outdoor Dining: None
EVANSTON. This serene dining spot is considered the best northern Italian restaurant in Chicago, thanks to perfect pastas and risotto dishes, a well-chosen wine list, and a rustic, authentic Italian environment that is complete with pillars. The name means "think freely" in Italian, and chefs do just that, going beyond basic pasta dishes to offer game or seafood concoctions like roasted Atlantic salmon with mustard glaze. Reservations recommended.

Early Labor & Business
Italians worked in construction, on the railroad and in the factories that proliferated around the city while others went into the small trades. Before 1900, unskilled workers sometimes fell prey to padroni, labor agents who found work for their compatriots, often for an exorbitant fee. Women worked alongside men in the garment industry, second only to New York City, which spawned one of the largest strikes in Chicago history led by three Italians. Success came to early entrepreneurs such as Giovanni Garibaldi and Frank Cuneo, who together created the largest fruit and nut wholesale business in the United States.

Public Image
From the start, Italians were considered racially inferior to white Europeans and public debates in academic circles and the media carried on unheeded for decades. Rampant anti-immigrant sentiment brought about The Immigration Act of 1924 and Chicago’s Italian Americans moved to defeat it. The small percentage of criminal elements active in the Italian American community, Black Hand practitioners and those who came up during the Prohibition Era, only lodged prejudices more firmly in the public’s mind. The most publicized protest from the community came in 2001 when the Chicago-based American Italian Defamation Association (AIDA) sued Time Warner for distributing HBO’s hit series The Sopranos because of its negative portrayal of Italian Americans.

Italo Balbo’s Flight
Balbo’s headline-grabbing transatlantic flight from Italy to Chicago during the 1933 World’s Fair brought unprecedented prestige to the Italian Colony. While it reinforced italianità among Chicago Italians, their reaction to the escalating threat of war in Europe would soon demonstrate their overwhelming allegiance to America.

Neighbhood Life
Popular processions of saints, or feste, brought the community together each year to celebrate deeply held traditions and customs and enjoy favorite foods with family and friends. Hundreds of organizations from mutual-aid societies and sports clubs to business groups and regional associations helped Italian Americans maintain strong cultural ties. The love of opera cut across class lines and many Italian Americans grew up listening to the great voices of a bygone era like Enrico Caruso, Luisa Tetrazzini and Chicago’s Vivian Della Chiesa, who made her debut in the Chicago Opera in 1936.

Our Lady of the Angels Fire
On December 1, 1958, fire swept through a Catholic grammar school in a West Side neighborhood with a large Italian-American population, killing 92 children and 3 nuns. The tragedy brought about changes in fire safety standards in American schools, but it also sparked a mass exodus of families from the neighborhood, a trend that brought about the demise of the city’s Italian Colonies in the ensuing decades.

Politics
Before World War II, the Italian American community produced only a handful of political leaders, among them Vito Marzullo, a strong ally of Mayor Daley who went on to become a state representative and alderman. Frank Annunzio was the most visible political figure for many decades who fervently promoted Italian American causes throughout his three decades in office. One unwitting figure to venture into local politics is Florence Scala. A tailor’s daughter, Scala took on City Hall to protest the building of the University of Illinois campus, which eventually destroyed her Taylor Street neighborhood and most of the Hull House complex. Today’s Italian Americans leaders like Senator James DeLeo, Senate Majority Leader Debbie DeFrancesco Halvorson, Representative Skip Saviano, and Schiller Park mayor Anna Montana remain committed to serving diverse constituencies while maintaining close ties to their ethnic identity.

The first Italian to travel through the future site of Chicago was explorer Enrico Tonty (Tonti) in 1681 sailing under the French flag.

Oak Park native Dan Castellaneta supplies the voice of cartoon character Homer Simpson.

Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini, who founded hospitals and schools in Chicago and died there, is the first American citizen to be canonized a saint in 1946.

The Radio Flyer Red Wagon, a symbol of American childhood, was produced by Antonio Pasin, an immigrant from Venice whose company is still being run by his grandsons on Chicago's West Side.

A group of Italian American businessmen and community leaders formed the White Hand Society in 1907 to fight Black Hand extortion.

Carl Laemmle, the founder of Hollywood's Universal Studios in 1906, received his inspiration while visiting Dan Ligarda's Nickelodeon movie theater on Halsted and Taylor Streets.

Two of Chicago's most respected "top cops” are Italian Americans: former Police Superintendent Joe DiLeonardi and Melrose Park Police Chief Bill Jaconetti.

The famous Pickwick movie theater in Park Ridge, used as the backdrop for Roger Ebert's "At the Movies," was designed by Alfonso Ianelli, a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The black boxes found on all commercial U.S. airplanes were manufactured at the DeMuro Brothers Electronics Factory in suburban Melrose Park.

Vito Bertoldi of downstate Illinois is one of 14 Medal of Honor winners from World War Two.

Amabile Piguri Santacaterina, one of Chicago’s s most popular Italian radio broadcasters in the 1940s, was recruited by the FBI to aid in the war effort.

Chicago clarinetist, Joe Marsala, had the first integrated band on 52nd St. in New York City in 1936. Marsala also brought the first integrated band into NYC's Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1937

Judge Nicholas Bua ruled against patronage in Chicago's City Hall in the 1970s.

Chicago-born operatic soprano Vivian Della Chiesa was so popular that she had her own national radio show during the 1930s.

Baker and businesswoman Serafina Ferrara, known as the "Angel of Taylor Street," organized thousands of weddings throughout her lifetime.

Certified Grocers is the largest grocery cooperative in the entire nation organized by Henry Vinci in the 1960s.

Every musician in the U.S. receives royalty payments on his of her recordings, a condition fought for, and achieved, back in the 1930s under James Petrillo, head of the American Federation of Musicians.

One of six members of the Italian Parliament representing Italians abroad, Senator Ron Turano’s territory extends from Alaska to Panama.

Actor Gary Sinise, Steppenwolf director Frank Galati, and Drury Lane producer Tony DeSantis are just a few of the artists of Italian descent who helped create Chicago’s vibrant theater scene.

Gerald Arpino relocated his renowned Joffrey Ballet to Chicago, joining already established dance troupes led by Lou Conte and Gus Giordano.

Oscar-nominated actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio is an Oak Park native.

Singer Carol Lawrence, née Laraia, grew up in Melrose Park and originated the role of Maria in the first Broadway production of West Side Story in 1959.

Educator and principal Claude Mazzocco, born on the city’s East Side, founded and served as first president of the Illinois Middle School Association.

Mario Nello Buoniconti turned an old movie theater on Chicago’s West Side into Ferrara Manor, one of Chicago’s largest banquet halls.

Raymond and Connie DeGrazia opened up a pizzeria in the early 1950s, “Connie’s Pizzas,” credited with popularizing the then-obscure food pie.

South Side singer Peter Cetera became the recognizable voice of the popular rock band Chicago.

The late Henry Palmisano,born in Bridgeport and chief accountant at the family-run Henry’s Sports & Bait/Henry’s Marine, became a well-known activist who campaigned against commercial netting of perch fish in Lake Michigan.

Emma Tranter moved from Detroit to Chicago, where she formed the environmental activist group “Friends of the Park.”

Born in the suburb of Batavia, Frank Perna worked in his family’s Batavia West Side Market , one of the earliest businesses in that suburb), became a successful shoe-store owner, later spending the rest of his career as a high-ranking military official at the Pentagon.

As chair of the Chicago Mailers Union from 1968-1978, Peter Giangrosso negotiated contracts for newspaper workers, shared drinks with columnist Mike Royko, and delighted his Bridgeport neighbors by playing Big Band tunes on a Wurlitzer organ in his window.

Sam Cascio served as the legendary doorman at Chicago’s Hilton Hotel for over 60 years, greeting everyone from ordinary citizens to presidents.

Pianist Lennie Tristano, drummer Louis Bellson and violinist Johnny Frigo all made unique contributions to jazz music.

Dominick DeMatteo’s popular grocery store of the same name made the transition from small local business to one of the first supermarket chains.

Attorney Lawrence Pusateri was the first Italian American president of the 32,000 member Illinois State Bar Association.

Dino D’Angelo was a lawyer and philanthropist who refurbished the Chicago Civic Opera House, now called the Lyric Opera building.

Lawrence Pucci and his sister, Caryl Pucci Rettaliata, run Pucci Inc., one of the oldest custom-clothing firms in the nation.

Jazz, blues and pop singer Frankie Laine was born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio to Sicilian parents on Chicago’s West Side.

Lee Artoe drop-kicked a field goal for 52 yards while playing tackle for the famous 1941 Chicago Bears National Football team, an historic record set in the days before placekickers relied on a holder

The 150-year history of Italians settlement in Chicago, from early arrivals who laid the foundation for burgeoning Italian enclaves to the Italian American contribution to politics and labor, the arts and culture. Combining rare historical footage and photographs, interviews with prominent Italian Americans, authors, historians, and individuals who came of age in Chicago’s Little Italies, And They Came To Chicago journeys to the heart of one of the city’s most vibrant, and misunderstood, communities for an unforgettable look at Chicago’s Italian American legacy.

Though a handful of Northern Italian adventurers settled in the Midwest before the Revolutionary War, the first notable Italian presence in Illinois dates back to the 1850s, when Italian enclaves gradually formed around the state where there was promise of steady work. It was rough-and-tumble spirit of a growing metropolis that brought the majority of new arrivals to Chicago, the Midwest’s leading center of industry and commerce and home to one of the fastest growing Italian communites in the nation. While the city’s first Italian settlers hailed primarily from the North, the majority of Chicago’s Italians trace their ancestry to Southern Italy and Sicily, the Mezzogiorno. Mass immigration in the late 19th century pushed their numbers into the thousands and by 1920--just a few years before restrictive immigration laws were enacted--60,000 Italians called the city home, the third largest Italian population after New York and Philadelphia. Today, more than half a million Italian Americans live in greater Chicago, with Illinois ranking seventh among states with the largest Italian Americans populations.

The extraordinary accomplishments of Chicago’s Italian Americans have long overshadowed the hardships their ancestors endured early on. Among famous and unsung figures profiled include popular radio broadcaster Amabile Peguri Santacaterina; Frank Annunzio, Chicago’s leading Italian American congressman who helped make Columbus Day a national holiday; labor leader James Petrillo, a sewer digger’s son who became most powerful figures in the entertainment industry; Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, who found a new home at the University of Chicago after fleeing Fascist Italy; Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American to achieve sainthood; and Ron Turano, the first American elected to the Italian Senate.

Success, though, had its price. The sting of deep-seated prejudices lingered for generations even as thousands of Italian Americans marched off to war. And while they gradually attained visibility at every level of society, perhaps more than any other ethnic group, Italian Americans continue to combat a negative public image. In Chicago especially, Italian identity, criminality and violence were synonymous in the public’s imagination a generation before gangster life became the media’s cash cow.

Through it all—the anti-immigrant backlash, the Sacco and Vanzetti case, the Great Depression and global conflict—Chicago’s Italian enclaves remained the bedrock of social life for several generations of Italian Americans. More than a dozen of Little Italies formed across Chicagoland as successive waves of immigrants followed their compatriots to America. Taylor Street on the Near West Side, the city’s largest enclave of mostly Southern Italians before the University of Illinois claimed much of the neighborhood. 24th & Oakley, first settled by Tuscan immigrants before 1920 and possibly the best-preserved Italian neighborhood. Little Sicily on the Near North Side, once home to 20,000 Sicilians, and the western suburb of Melrose Park, where the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was born in 1894. Chicago Heights and Roseland to the South, Highwood and Highland Park to the North. Elmwood Park and Grand & Harlem, where Italian Americans put down deep roots. And finally, Grand & Ogden, Bridgeport and Chinatown, once-thriving Italian neighborhoods that yielded to newcomers as Italian Americans gained greater economic mobility

Immigrants, ethnics, achievers, 1850-1985 Part -2World War II changed everything for Italian Americans. It Americanized the second generation. The G.I. Bill opened up the first possibilities for a college education and the first opportunities to buy a new suburban house. Other government policies such as urban renewal, public housing, and the building of the interstate highway system combined to destroy their inner-city neighborhoods. First was the building of the Cabrini-Green Housing Project, which helped drive the Sicilians out of the Near North Side in the 1940s and 1950s. Then came the construction of the expressway system on the near south, west, and northwest sides, which dislodged additional Italian families and institutions, including the church and new school of the Holy Guardian Angel. The exodus headed west along Grand Avenue, eventually reaching Harlem Avenue. In the early 1960s Mayor Daley decided to build the new Chicago branch of the University of Illinois in the Taylor Street neighborhood. This meant that approximately one square mile of the heavily Italian neighborhood would have to be demolished. Almost simultaneously the Roseland-Pullman Italian Community fell victim to real-estate block busters who profited from the expansion of the black ghetto by scaring white residents into abandoning their neighborhood and their new Church of St. Anthony of Padua.

The overall result of all the positive and negative forces during the post World War II era was that, except for a few noteworthy pockets of Italian settlement, Chicago's old Little Italies were destroyed. With them have gone the sentimental sense of identity and security that the continuity in customs and familiar faces of the old neighborhood offered. Whatever political power that the Italians could muster from geographic concentration was also undermined. Henceforth, there would be no geographic base for the community. This was replaced by a smaller community of interest based almost entirely upon voluntary association and self-conscious identification with Italianess.

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One of the first to perceive the change and to plan for it was Fr. Armando Pierini. Easily the most productive leader in the history of the Chicago Italian community, Pierini began serving at the Scalabrinian Santa Maria Addolorata Church in 1935. Within a year he founded a seminary to train Italian-American priests to minister to their own. The Sacred Heart Seminary trained future priests, and it educated young men who became Italian community leaders. Pierini also used the same citywide approach for his next project: an Italian old people's home. Proposed in 1945, Villa Scalabrini opened in 1951. From that time forward there has been a continuous and intense campaign to create an Italian community and to unite that community behind a common noble cause — The Villa Scalabrini. In the 40 years since the Villa was proposed, Italians from various parishes and various parts of the metropolitan area have cooperated to stage an endless stream of carnivals, dinner dances, stage shows, fashion shows, spaghetti suppers, cocktail parties, and golf outings to support this multi-million dollar institution which stands as a proud testimonial of what Chicago Italians can accomplish when they are united.

The campaign to support the Villa also resulted in the establishment in 1960 of Fra Noi (Among Us). A monthly English language paper, Fra Noi functioned as a house organ for the Villa. Featuring local articles on politics, people, organizations, major contributors to the Villa, sports, recipes, and cultural and religious topics, Fra Noi has in its four hundred issues reinforced a sense of Italianess and community among its 12,000 subscribers and their families. In 1985 Fra Noi passed from Pierini into the hands of the third-generation professional journalists who have broadened the paper's circulation, advertising revenue, intellectual scope, and even the size of its Italian language section. Given the current geographic dispersal of the 300,000 Italians in the Chicago area, it is hard to conceive of any meaningful way in which the term "community" could be used to describe that population if Fra Noi and the Villa did not exist.

A brief demographic analysis of the Italians in the city in recent times yields varied conclusions. Census figures for 1970-1990 show Italians in the city to have above-average incomes and to be slightly under-represented in the professions. Other studies have shown that the Italians along with the Poles, African-Americans, and Hispanics are woefully under represented on the boards of directors of large corporations. Figures for educational attainment show Italians to be below average, but this can be explained in part because the oldest cohort of Italians had little or no formal education. In 1980 statistics show the highest concentration of people of Italian ancestry in the Dunning, Montclare, and the Belmont-Cragin areas of the northwest edge of the city limits where approximately 20,000 of the 138,000 city Italians live.

This forty-block area is shared with second and third generation Poles but contains hardly any African-Americans. The ambiance of the neighborhood also reveals the ethnicity of the zone. It features a large grocery specializing in Italian imports and a genuine Italian-style bar (Bar San Francesco) complete with espresso, gelato, and card-playing Calabresi in the backroom. Many of the stores and businesses on Harlem Avenue are owned and operated by Italians, many of them recent (1970s) immigrants. Both the statistical and the impressionistic evidence point unmistakably to the fact that the era of the poor Italian-American is long gone. They are financially comfortable as a result of success in family business, the acquisition of a skilled trade, or through unionized factory work. Moreover, the under-consumption of previous generations, the slow accumulation of real property, and family economic cooperation reinforce their economic status. They have achieved the American Dream except for one thing — respect.

Attaining their final goal is the stated or unstated purpose of the hundreds of voluntary associations that Chicago Italians have formed. Prominent among these is the Joint Civic Committee of Italian-Americans (JCCIA). It was established in the 1950s in response to an effort by the Democratic party to drop a respected Italian-American judge from the electoral ticket. An important part of the Capone legacy is the assumption in the public mind (and among Italian-Americans themselves) that every successful Italian-American is somehow "connected." The JCCIA since its founding has maintained a downtown office with a director, a secretary, and volunteers and is generally conceded to be the spokesman for the Chicago Italian-American community. Its Anti-Defamation Committee has used an effective combination of quiet influence, outraged protest, and award-giving flattery to nudge the news media toward more objective treatment of Italians. One major achievement has been the cessation of the use of Italian words such as Mafia and Cosa Nostra in favor of the more neutral "organized crime." Oriented toward the regular Democratic organization, the officially "nonpartisan" JCCIA's major patron was Congressman Frank Annunzio, who fashioned for himself on the national scene the role of "The Leading Italian American Congressman." The most important annual function of the JCCIA is the Columbus Day Parade, which attracts almost every politician in the state regardless of race, ethnicity, or party. The Columbus Day event shows off the Italian community's power and influence. In the early 1960s the JCCIA forged an alliance with the Villa and Fra Noi, which gave increased credibility to all concerned. Together the agencies have sponsored a dizzying array of cultural, folkloric, and social events that range from Italian language classes to debutante balls.

Immigrants, ethnics, achievers, 1850-1985 - Part-1

Italians have been in Chicago since the 1850s. Until 1880 the community consisted of a handful of enterprising Genoese fruit sellers, restaurateurs, and merchants, along with a sprinkling of plaster workers. Most Chicago Italians, however, trace their ancestry to the wave of unskilled southern immigrants who came to the United States between 1880 and 1914. As a rail center, an industrial center, and American's fastest growing major city, Chicago offered opportunities for immigrants from all nations. In the nineteenth century it was a mecca for German and Irish migration. In the early-twentieth century Italians, Russian Jews, and, most important, Poles found a place in Chicago. Later, blacks from America's South, and Mexican and Asian immigrants came to the city, making it today home to sizable colonies of more than eighty different nationalities. Chicago's black population is second only to that of New York City; at one time or another it has been the largest Lithuanian city, the second largest Bohemian city, the second largest Ukrainian city, and the third largest Swedish, Irish, Polish, and Jewish city in the world!

As in most older American cities, ethnic identities have persisted well beyond the melting pot, and a sophisticated understanding of the economic, social, political, and cultural dynamics of the city is impossible without careful consideration of ethnic factors. Being part of the complex interaction of ethnic groups and consistently outnumbered by Irish, Poles, African-Americans, and Hispanics, Italian aspirations for power and prestige have often been thwarted.

Typical chain migration patterns prevailed, with families and villages gradually reforming in Chicago neighborhoods as workers accumulated savings to send for their relatives. Throughout the early-twentieth century a good deal of residential mobility continued among the Italians. Nevertheless their major colonies, as first enumerated by Rudolph Vecoli, were shaped as follows. The original Genoese/Lucchese neighborhood in the shadow of today's Merchandise Mart produced the first Italian Catholic Church of the Assumption in 1880. Toward the south end of the Loop near the Polk Street Station, the Riciglianese (Salerno) lived. Over the years the colony moved south into what is now known as Chinatown, where they were joined by the Sicilians from Nicosia. The Scalabrinian church of Santa Maria Incoronata (patroness of Ricigliano) remained the focal center for the community until the 1980s, when it became the Chinese mission of St. Therese. On the near West Side, in a neighborhood made famous by Jane Addams and Hull House, the largest Italian colony grew up. This Taylor Street area contained about one-third of the city's Italians — a mixture of people from Naples, Salerno, Basilicata, the Marche, and Lucca. The neighborhood was also shared with Russian Jews to the south and Greeks to the north.

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For the most part this area could be considered a slum in the pre-1920 era. The Scalabrinian churches of the Holy Guardian Angel and Our Lady of Pompeii and a hospital founded by Mother Cabrini served the zone. On the near Northwest Side a varied community of Baresi, Sicilians, and others grew up around the Santa Maria Addolorata Church. Perhaps the most colorful Italian sector was in the 22nd Ward on the city's Near North Side. Known alternately as"Little Sicily" and "Little Hell," this neighborhood was home to some 20,000 by 1920.

Most originated from the small towns surrounding Palermo. The Servite Church of St. Philip Benizi provided the backdrop for a score of festivals each summer sponsored by paesani-based mutual benefit societies. (Paesan is from paese, meaning fellow countryman or townsman.)

In addition to the major inner-city Italian enclaves, a number of outlying and suburban colonies formed in the pre-1920 period. In the 1890s a settlement of Toscani who worked at the McCormick Reaper plant appeared a few miles to the southwest of the Loop at 24th and Oakley. Also to the south, in the famous planned company town established by George Pullman, there was a colony of Italian brickmakers from Altopiano Asiago. The nearby Roseland neighborhood was also home to a contingent of Piedmontese and Sicilians. The town of Blue Island at the southwest border of the city was heavily settled by railroad laborers from Rippacandida (Basilicata). Chicago Heights, thirty miles to the south of the Loop, had a population that was 50 percent Italian by 1920, with most hailing from San Benedetto del Tronto (Marche), Caccamo (Sicily), Amaseno (Lazio), and Castel di Sangro (Abruzzo). Melrose Park, sixteen miles to the west of the central city, was a place of second settlement, attracting Italians from the inner city to the wide-open spaces of the suburbs. The establishment of a major religious feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel eventually identified the town as the quintessential Chicago Italian suburb. The Highwood community, twenty-eight miles north of the city, developed after the turn of the century when migrants from Modenese towns moved here from Illinois coal towns.

Mostly contadini (small farmers) from dozens of towns in Italy both north and south settled around the core of the central city and in selected suburbs. They practiced campanilismo (allegiance to their town of origin), living near others from the same village or region. The core colonies were considered slums, their inhabitants the object of intensive efforts by social workers to make them middle class and masterful maneuvers by political ward bosses to get their votes.

The immigrants worked as railroad laborers, construction workers, small-scale fruit and vegetable peddlers, shoe makers, and barbers. Both men and women were engaged in the needle trades, and Italian Socialists were among the leaders in several Chicago strikes by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union. In the pre-World War I period, it was unusual to find Italians employed in factories. Only a minuscule number worked in meatpacking plants.

The Italian communities of Chicago were enriched by a phenomenon all too rare in their towns of origin — voluntary associations. By the 1920s in addition to the paesani-based mutual benefit societies, the Italians in Chicago had church and school-oriented clubs and sodalities that worked at fundraising, as well as special-interest organizations sponsored by the settlement houses. According to historian Humbert Nelli, the general prosperity had nearly completed the Italians' social mobility by 1929.

No treatment of Chicago's Italians would be complete without some discussion of the city's most famous Italian American — Al Capone. The image of this gangster, who operated a vice, gambling, and illegal liquor empire for twenty years under the bribed consent of the city's non-Italian political leadership, has besmirched the name not only of Italians in Chicago but of the city itself. A showoff, Capone fancied himself a modern Robin Hood, passing out cash at social functions and establishing soup kitchens for the destitute. Though the numbers directly involved in syndicate crime were less than 1 percent of the Italian American people, the Capone mob captured the imagination of journalists and moviemakers who helped create a negative stereotype that continues to haunt people with Italian names a half century after Capone's death.

On the whole, public opinion of the Italian immigrant in the 1920s was a negative one. Poverty, ignorance, blackhand crime, and prohibition-related violence were the chief ingredients in the public image of Italians. Even the most sympathetic saw Italians in the city as suitable objects for social work, charity, and rehabilitation — perhaps a more negative image than the criminal stereotype.

In the mid-1920s Italians in Chicago still maintained their Italianess. Their language, their family patterns, and their religious practices were retained in their old neighborhoods even while they were Americanized by their daily contacts with non-Italians (mostly immigrants themselves). Mussolini and Fascism reinforced Italianata. In fact, the proudest moment in the history of the Chicago Italian colony came in July 1933 when Italo Balbo's squadron of planes completed its transatlantic flight, landing in Lake Michigan as part of the World's Fair activities. The event and the activities surrounding it put Italians on the front page — in a positive light for a change. Until the declaration of war between the United States and Italy, support for Mussolini was high. Then things changed, the second generation marched off to war, and vocal support for the Fascist regime died out.

Roughly speaking, what might be called the second generation emerged in the 1920s through the 1940s. Born in Chicago, educated according to American and/or Catholic standards, influenced by the Prohibition of the 1920s, tempered by the Great Depression, and tested by service in World War II, this group was often ambivalent about ethnicity. Though they had experienced the joys of Italian family life, middle-class America had always frowned on their parents' language and customs, and now came the War ...