When Joseph Nigrelli Sr. — the patriarch of Westerly's "First Family of Jewelry" — answered the knock on his front door one recent afternoon, he was a little taken aback to see Dr. Daniel Gaccione standing there before him.

When Gaccione announced he was there to tell Nigrelli he'd been named the Dante Society of Westerly's 2023 Person of the Year, Nigrelli was doubly taken aback. "It was quite a surprise," said a smiling Nigrelli earlier this week as he sat at his kitchen table, recounting the story.