A few years back, Vince Gerasole, the beloved general assignment reporter for CBS 2 Chicago, took one of those mail-in DNA tests you see advertised on television. The Pittsburgh native, who proudly traces his ancestry to Abruzzo and Calabria, was ecstatic to discover he was 85 percent Italian, with a smattering of other European descent to round it out.

Gerasole, who speaks Italian fluently and worked as a teacher and disc jockey in Italy after college, is quick to mention how proud he is of his ethnicity. He even jokes that his children liken him to an Italian version of the effusive father in the film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” singing the praises of his culture and excitedly embracing the paesani he happens upon in everyday life.