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Italian candy giant Ferrero plans to launch its first new flavor variety of Nutella next year, right from the Chicago area, the Chicago Tribune reported. Nutella Peanut was developed by Ferrero’s food scientists and will be made exclusively at the company’s factory in suburban Franklin Park. “We think it’s going to be big,” Seth Gonzalez, senior di...

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This is a story about Pfc. Louis Grippo and his travels during World War II. But a little background first. I grew up in my father’s family building on West Taylor Street in one of the Italian enclaves of Chicago. My mom’s family lived on South May Street, two blocks away. In my early years, we went over there almost every day. When I was in gramma...

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Ross Martucci fell in love with special effects makeup as a child, when he saw the gruesome Freddy Krueger of the movie “Nightmare on Elm Street” on the cover of a horror magazine. “I couldn’t believe how it was possible to make somebody look like they were burnt from head to toe and it not be real. It was almost like magic to me,” the Chicago-base...

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What do these famous cultural references have in common? The fifth episode in the first season of the 1960s television show Batman, which introduced Cesar Romero as the Joker; the Agatha Christie short story, Swan Song; the Marvin Gaye song, (I’m Afraid) The Masquerade is Over; the 1970 hit by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Tears of a Clown; the...

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“I had the great pleasure of meeting Illinois Supreme Court Justice Moses W. Harrison II — or “Mose,” as he liked to be called — about the time he declared his candidacy for the Illinois Supreme Court in 1987. We became dear friends over the years.  Named after his paternal grandfather, Justice Harrison was highly respected and the first Italian Am...

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One of the most thrilling and glamorous events in the Chicago-area Italian American community is the contest to determine who will reign as La Bella Regina of the Columbus Day Parade. “Few events in the community can match the pageantry of the annual Columbus Day Queen pageant,” says Ron Onesti, president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Ame...

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A standout basketball player from middle school through college, Jill Pizzotti’s lifelong desire to lead from the sidelines propelled her to the pinnacle of the collegiate world when she was tapped to helm DePaul’s women’s team. Jill M. Pizzotti, who will begin her first season as head coach of the DePaul Blue Demons women’s basketball team this fa...

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The College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago has announced that Dr. Nancy Caronia will start on August 11, 2025, as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of English, as the Paul and Ann Rubino Endowed Professorship of Italian American Studies. Dr. Caronia earned her PhD in English and cultural studies from the Univer...

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Italian wine exports worldwide, while remaining positive in the first quarter of 2025, as reported by WineNews analyzing Istat data, are losing ground and the impression is that the trend may change in the next surveys. Attention is largely focused on the United States, Italy’s historic leading trading partner and leader in wine exports from Italy....

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The Calabresi in America Organization has elected Gina Badagliacca to serve as its 2025-2026 president, and the longtime member couldn’t be more thrilled to helm the vibrant organization. “I think everything about the club is great,” she says. “The functions are exciting, the people are amazing and there are lifelong friendships that we create.” Ba...

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