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IL PENSIERO “THE THOUGHT”
Member of FUSIE (Federazione Italiana Stampa Unitaria all’Estero)
Celebrating Community at the 2025 Italian Heritage Parade & Festa on The Hill
By Courtney Kamm-Finn
The Hill is about the people who make this neighborhood special, not just great food and tradition. This year’s Italian Heritage Parade & Festa honors three longtime community champions for their numerous acts of giving back.
Grand Marshal honors go to Joe Vollmer, who represented The Hill as alderman for 22 years and even stepped in as Interim President of the Board of Aldermen in 2022. Joe has always been a steady voice for residents, making sure the neighborhood got the services it deserved. Outside of City Hall, he’s just as present— cheering on at bocce tournaments, stirring up the risotto cook-off, and welcoming everyone to Milo’s, his bar and bocce club that’s become a neighborhood hub.
The Spirit of The Hill Award will be presented to Linda and Bob Traina for their dedication to preserving the neighborhood’s history. After longtime archivist LynnMarie Alexander passed, they took on the massive task of cataloging and digitizing The Hill’s archives. Linda also led the Pattison Avenue Project and continues to keep the past alive through rotating exhibits at The Center.
This year’s honorees remind us why The Hill feels less like a neighborhood and more like a family. Be sure to join the celebration and cheer them on at the 2025 Parade & Festa happening October 12, 2025 at Berra Park from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Find more information about the event at hillstl.org.
5 Ways to Celebrate Italian Heritage Month in St. Louis
By Courtney Kamm-Finn
October is Italian Heritage Month, and there’s no better place to celebrate than right here in St. Louis’s—The Hill neighborhood. From food to history, The Hill offers numerous ways to celebrate Italian culture and community.
Dine Out—Enjoy a meal at one of The Hill’s iconic restaurants, from toasted ravioli to handmade pasta, and support family-owned spots that have carried on tradition for generations.
Play Bocce – Bocce is a cornerstone of Italian culture. Stop by Milo’s or ItaliaAmerica Bocce Club to watch a match—or join in!
Attend an Event – October is full of events on The Hill! Learn more on page 6. Explore Local History – Visit The Hill Neighborhood Center to learn about the families who built this community.
Cook at Home – Pick up ingredients from a local Italian market, such as Marconi Mercato or DiGregorio’s Italian Market, and
try your hand at classic recipes. What’s your favorite way to celebrate Italian Heritage Month? Let us know at courtney@ilpensiero.net.
Diamond of Dreams for Italian-Americans
Submitted by Dan Taft
The eternal human quest for a better life for themselves and, more importantly, for their children has led umpteen millions of souls to uproot their lives, leave their ancestral homelands, and start anew in these United States. With them they brought their faith, their values, their language, their fashion, their music, their food, and, in short, their very way of life to this country. Often these were viewed as alien, or at the very least foreign—generally unwelcome by those who had come before them from other places and were already settled here. They were viewed with suspicion, seen to pose a threat to the existing order. Yet they persevered, launching into the arduous process of assimilation and acceptance while at the same time introducing a whole new flavor to the ever-evolving American scene.
Such was the case for some four million Italians who came to this land of opportunity more than a century ago. They quickly took to life in the New World, adapting to new ways without ever abandoning the treasures of their own culture. One of the aspects of American life they embraced
Continued on page 5
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The signed articles appearing in Il Pensiero “The Thought” are the opinions of the individual authors, who do not represent the general point of view, nor do they express the views of Il Pensiero. We accept the collaboration of people expressing the most wide range of opinions. Opinions expressed in Il Pensiero “The Thought” are not necessarily those of Il Pensiero and Il Pensiero does not accept responsibility for advertising content. Any images supplied are at the owner’s risk.
PENSIERO
Official Photographer
Nino’s Ninetieth! Cav. Antonino Lombardo
September 11, 2025
Joe Gandolfo, Tony Gandolfo and Paul DeGregorio
Terri Elsworth, Cheyenne Cottner, Christina Brittain and Sarah
Nina and Joe Gallo
Cav. Antonino Lombardo and Gus Torregrossa
Cav. Antonino Lombardo and Leo Signorino
The Sheldon family
Frankie Sheldon and Loredana Leone
Semir Durmišević, Jim Marino and Tony Nicastro
Continued from page 1
Historian Jacques Barzun famously wrote in God’s Country and Mine (1954), “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball…”” —a phrase that’s now engraved on a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Baseball proved to be an ideal agent of integration for newly arrived ItalianAmericans, eclipsing social barriers and pulling them firmly into the mainstream. Over the course of the ensuing decades, their sons became household names: Tony Lazzari, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Rocky Colavito, Tony Conigliaro, Dave Righetti, Jason Giambi, Craig Biggio, Joe Torre, Bobby Valentine, Mike Piazza, and Pete Alonso, to name a few.
And yet this didn’t happen automatically. It couldn’t. Baseball is too demanding. Unlike almost any other sport, even the most gifted natural athlete can’t simply pick up a ball and bat in the prime years of his youth and decide to become a baseball player. The skills must be introduced, developed, and honed at a very early age. There’s no other way. Michael Jordan’s stint in the minor leagues in 1994 is a case in point.
the founding of Little League Baseball in the summer of 1939 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Some sixty years later, Dr. Silvio R. Laccetti, Professor of Urban Studies at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, was preparing to teach a course on leadership. His research led him to the story of Carl Stotz, where he immediately recognized the significance of Stotz’s contribution. Coincidentally, Hoboken was the site of the first organized baseball game in history on June 19, 1846.
Following his retirement from Stevens, Laccetti formed a philanthropic foundation aimed at, in his own words, “advancing educational issues close to my heart.” Prominent among the foundation’s many activities was its connection with the Birthplace of Little League, where Laccetti dedicated a bronze statue, “The Centerfielder,” in honor of Stotz’s achievement, situated prominently at the entrance to the Original Little League Museum on West 4th Street in Williamsport. The dedication ceremony was held on June 19, 2021, eighty-two years after Little League’s first opening day and exactly 179 years after that very first baseball game in Hoboken.
World Series this year. The team from Fairfield, Connecticut, representing the Metro Region, in particular, included four of twelve players having Italian surnames, i.e., 33 percent versus only six percent for the U.S. population at large.
In Little League parlance, the Metro Region is comprised of four states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. While this territory extends beyond what is traditionally considered the Metropolitan Area centered on New York City, it’s interesting to note that it does mirror the voyage of Giovanni da Verrazzano when he sailed along the coastline from present-day Cape May to Long Island to Narragansett Bay in the spring of 1524.
Enter Little League. Almost instinctively sensing the need for organization and orderliness to corral the energy and talent of young boys playing sandlot or stickball, Carl Stotz embarked on a personal crusade that resulted in
Continued on page 6 with enthusiasm was baseball, the national pastime.
Fast-forward to August 2025. Dr. Laccetti’s appreciation of Little League and the pride he takes in being ItalianAmerican (his foundation sponsors Italian Heritage Awards) came together, leading him to notice a disproportionate number of Italian surnames on the rosters of the teams competing in the Little League
Team Metro sailed through the double-elimination World Series tournament undefeated, advancing to the U.S. championship game on the afternoon of August 23, where they finally succumbed 8–2 in a rematch against the Mountain Region team from Las Vegas, Nevada, whom they had defeated four days earlier. 29,404 spectators turned out to witness that game in person in Williamsport, accompanied by 1.9 million television and online viewers. Despite the great disappointment, the Metro boys pulled themselves together to win the consolation game the following morning against a very strong International team from Aruba, 4–2. This landed them in third place, not bad considering there are over 180,000 Little League teams worldwide.
Victory in the consolation game
by Carina Marino
Submit content to info@ilpensiero.net before October 10, 2025 to be featured in the November issue. We look forward to receiving your announcements!
Thank you
BIRTHDAYS
Anthony Gandolfo
Courtney Kamm-Finn
Tim Kernell ANNIVERSARIES
Oct. 7
Antonino and the late Lina Lombardo
Oct. 27
Giovanni and Francesca Ferrara
A Special Note:
Welcome, fall!
Carina Marino
and the Il Pensiero staff
Continued from page 5
And so, for Little League fans in the Metro Region and for virtually every resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, there’s a whole new generation of household names of Italian origin: Brian Palazzolo, Joe Sorrentino, Luca Pellegrini, and Tommy D’Amura.
Looking out further to the national stage, we can add Luke D’Ambrosio of Las Vegas, Nevada; Frankie Fasoli and Sam Trotta of Braintree, Massachusetts; Nick Bongiorni of Upper Uwchlan, Pennsylvania;
and Joe Giulietti of Irmo, South Carolina, to that list of household names.
Thinking back to those courageous souls who braved the one-way passage in steerage on overcrowded ocean liners from Italy to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s with little more than hope in their hearts, my maternal grandparents included, I can only imagine how their spirits must be soaring in the heavens above to witness their legacy shining so brightly on
Continued on page 7 certainly sweetened the homecoming celebration held on August 25, arguably the largest and most enthusiastic outpouring of civic pride Fairfield has seen since the high school basketball team won the New England Championship in 1955, seventy years ago. Not insignificantly, sportsmanship, resiliency, and poise were celebrated every bit as much as victory, a great tribute to the entire Metro team.
Continued from page 6
the diamond in Williamsport for all the world to see.
About Dan Taft is an Engineer and a graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology. His maternal grandparents came to the U.S. from the Abruzzi in Central Italy in 1910.
Autumn Soccer in STL
October 18
Autumn Mediterranean Artichoke Dip
Ingredients:
2 cans of artichokes
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 cup of Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Chop up artichokes and add the ingredients and mix together. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with your choice of cracker.
Bring this to your gathering!
NIAF Statement on the Passing of Giorgio Armani
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) mourns the passing of Giorgio Armani, the legendary Italian fashion designer who died on September 4 at age 91 at his home in Milan. With his death, the world has lost not only a visionary artist but a towering ambassador of Italian excellence and elegance.
NIAF was deeply honored to recognize Mr. Armani’s extraordinary contributions to fashion and the arts when we presented him with our Lifetime Achievement Award in Arts and Fashion at NIAF’s 19th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., in 1994. Even then, it was clear that Giorgio Armani had redefined not just fashion, but the very concept of Italian style on the global stage.
Throughout his remarkable 50year career, Mr. Armani embodied the finest qualities of Italian craftsmanship, innovation, and artistic vision. From his revolutionary unlined jackets to his elegant red-carpet creations, he made Italian design synonymous with understated sophistication and timeless beauty. His influence extended far beyond fashion, encompassing film, sports, hospitality, and philanthropy.
As an Italian American organization, NIAF takes particular pride in how Mr. Armani elevated the “Made in Italy” brand and served as a cultural bridge between
Italy and the world. His success story— from a young man in Piacenza with dreams of medicine to building a multibillion-dollar global empire—exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit and creative excellence that define the Italian heritage we celebrate.
Giorgio Armani’s legacy will endure not only in the countless garments that bear his name, but in the standard of excellence he set for Italian design and the inspiration he provided to generations of artists and entrepreneurs. He was truly the king of fashion and a prince of Italian culture.
NIAF extends its deepest condolences to Mr. Armani’s family, the Armani Group, and all who knew and worked with this extraordinary man. His contribution to Italian culture and to the world will never be forgotten.
About NIAF
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes the Italian culture and heritage. Founded in 1975, NIAF has been a leading advocate for Italian Americans, preserving their legacy and promoting their contributions to the United States.
Remembering Giovanna Pica (nee Stallone)
May 12, 1925 - September 1, 2025
Pica, Giovanna (nee Stallone) entered the presence of the Lord on Monday September 1, 2025.
Devoted wife of the late Franco Pica; Beloved mother of Dominic Pica, Maria Fisher (Ed), Rosanna Pica, and Mario
Continued on page 12
GENERALE
D’ITALIA
Mario Alberto Bartoli CONSOLE GENERALE
500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1850 Chicago, IL 60611 phone: 312-467-1550
certified email (PEC): con.chicago@cert.esteri.it italcons.chicago@esteri.it Hours: (open to public) Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Onorario D’Italia/Honorary Vice Consul Joseph Colagiovanni
Honorary Vice Consul of Italy ITALIANCONSULSTL@GMAIL.COM 314-705-2413
VISTI/VISAS visti.chicago@esteri.it 312-995-5487
PASSAPORTI/DOCUMENTI VIAGGIO/ NAVIGAZIONE/ PASSPORTS/ EMERGENCY TRAVEL DOCUMENTS passaporti.chicago@esteri.it 312-995-5485
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Italian Trade Agency
401 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1720 Chicago, Illinois 60611 chicago@ice.it 312-670-4360 website:ice.it/it
Agenzia Nazionale del Turismo/ Italian Government Tourist Office
500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2240, Chicago, IL 60611 312-644-0990 italiantourism.com
ONLY FOR ITALIAN CITIZENS WITH TRUE EMERGENCIES (accidents, arrests, etc.):
Available from 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. - 10 p.m. CST Monday –Friday, and from 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, and holidays – Call +1(312) 909-0304
Emergencies between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. CT, contact the MAECI at 011 39 06 36912666
Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Chicago Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago 500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1450 Chicago, IL 60611 phone: 312-822-9545 fax: 312-822-9622 email:iicchicago@esteri.it website:iicchicago.esteri.it
Schedule Basic
Continued from page 8 Pica; Adoring Nonna of Margaret Marino (Louis), Salvatore Mazzola (Casey), Natalie Fisher, Franco “Frankie” Pica (Jennifer), Dominic Pica (Madison), Gabriella Wood (Drew), Gina Kmiec (Vince), and Lena Pica; Enamored bisnonna of Gianna, Savannah, Nicholas, Sofia, Elle, Saylor, Kobe, and Isabelle; Loving sister preceded in death by Giacamo (the late Teresa) and Salvatore (Karen) Stallone and survived by Maria Barbera (the late Vito), Umberto (the late Tina) and Virgil Stallone; Loving aunt, “Zietta”, cousin, sister-in-law to her extended family living both in the U.S. and throughout Italy; Cherished neighbor, friend, and patient.
Giovanna was born 100 years ago on May 12, 1925 in Campobello di Mazara, Sicily to Vito and Rosina Stallone and blessed to be raised with four brothers, Giacamo, Salvatore, Umberto, and Virgil, and a little sister, Maria. In 1955, she married Franco Pica and emigrated to the United States. She welcomed their first baby the year after arriving in Saint Louis, MO and later rejoined the workforce employing the tailor trade skills that she and her brother Sal “Toto” had honed working under their father in Italy. Although she learned English and became a U.S. Citizen in 1962, Sicilian always remained her preferred language to express herself.
While she was small in size, Giovanna was not short of personality, and her presence could command a room. She was well known for her talents in the kitchen as an amazing cook and at the sewing machine as a master tailor. She took great pride as a Mother to her four children, and Nonna to her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Over the course of the last century, she was able to celebrate countless milestones and holidays with her loved ones like birthdays, graduations, weddings, including her own 100th birthday and congratulate all four of her children becoming grandparents— however, the ones her family will miss most are the fond memories of visits for no occasion in particular that usually culminated in a meal at her table.
The family would especially like to offer thanks to the in-home caregivers. Their services and affection for Giovanna afforded her the blessing to live at home and continue enjoying her recipes and house for as long as she did. These women held a special place in her heart and that of our family.
Read With Alexandra (RWA)
“In
By Alexandra Marino-Durmišević
the Light of the Sun ” By Angela Shupe
Angela Shupe’s debut novel is based on her family’s lives throughout World War II. She is of Italian and Filipina descent, just like the main characters, Rosa and Caramina Grassi. The two sisters are both opera singers. Rosa is with her Nonna in Florence training professionally, while Caramina is in the Luzon jungle with her family as they flee Japanese occupation. We experience their lives in wartime through love, loss, hope, and bravery.
I have read many books on World War II, especially the stories of courageous women who did their part to fight for their side. Shupe presents a unique perspective from the Philippines that I have not encountered before. I really loved how she brought her family’s story to life. As I’ve said before, there is much to learn from fiction that is based on historical events.
Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America to Host
Festa Italiana D.C. at Tanger Outlets, October 4–5
The Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America® (OSDIA), the nation’s largest and oldest organization for Americans of Italian heritage, is excited to announce Festa Italiana D.C., a two-day celebration of Italian culture, food, and fun. The festival will help kick off Italian Heritage Month celebrations on Saturday, October 4, and Sunday, October 5, 2025, at Tanger Outlets National Harbor.
Festa Italiana D.C. will transform Tanger Outlets into a lively piazza, featuring authentic Italian cuisine, entertainment, cooking demonstrations, family-friendly activities, and artisan vendors. Visitors can enjoy regional specialties from local
restaurants, sip Italian wines, browse handmade crafts, and experience the sights and sounds of Italy—all just minutes from downtown Washington.
“This festival will be a vibrant expression of our heritage and a chance to share the warmth and traditions of Italy with the broader community,” said Comm. Thomas A. Lupo, National President of OSDIA. “Whether you have Italian roots or simply love Italian culture, Festa Italiana D.C. offers something for everyone.”
This year’s presenting sponsor is Galbani Cheese, Italy’s favorite cheese brand, with Maggiano’s Little Italy supporting at the Rosso level. The festival is also media-sponsored by CiaoDC, the region’s premier Italian lifestyle platform, and proudly supported by donating sponsors Venchi, Toscana Market and the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society.
Admission is free and open to the public. Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 4 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 5. Parking is available on-site at Tanger Outlets National Harbor.
For more details, visit FestaItalianaDC.com. Don’t forget to follow @Festa_Italiana_DC on Instagram.
