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 grew up with so many fantastic artists who grew up the same way as I did.

Growing up, I heard Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Prima and Andrea Boccelli. I even indulged in my grandma’s Luciano Pavarotti vinyls on occassion. My grandmother always played “December 1963” and the soundtrack for “The Godfather,”  so naturally, it will always be comforting and nostalgic to hear.