ITALIAN TIMES THE
Published 11 times annually by the Italian Community Center 631 E. Chicago St., Milwaukee, WI 53202 www.ICCMilwaukee.com SEPTEMBER 2017 • VOL. 39, NO. 3
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A message from ICC President Dean Cannestra
A Renaissance happening at the ICC and a successful 40th Festa, too!
Many of us remember the pride and excitement we all felt on that beautiful Sunday in September of 1990 – Sept. 30, 1990 to be exact – when we officially opened our new Italian Community Center. Well, 28 years later, we should again be bursting with renewed pride and exhibiting the same enthusiasm as the $1.4 million building remodeling project that the ICC entered into with our partner, the Bartolotta Restaurant Group, is nearly complete. This is, in a sense, a renaissance for our building, which will be good for our community and the members of the ICC. It assures us that we will continue to be a vibrant part of the community. We will be able to do more for our membership as we grow and prosper. I invite everyone to come and take a look at the Pompeii and Festa ballrooms, the classrooms, the corridors and even the restrooms. Everything is beautiful, from the new carpeting and tiling to the painting and décor of the walls. Everything looks modern and is designed to handle the needs of our members and the clientele that the Bartolotta Group books for its events. The Bartolotta Group is equally as excited as we are to unveil the great new look. Joe Bartolotta has already indicated to us that they have booked many new, large events because of the remodeling. These events bring assurances to them for increased revenue and growth. This is important news for us because as Bartolotta prospers, so does the ICC. In the coming weeks, we will be re-carpeting and painting our Board Room and our Members
Room. We are looking into lowering the ceiling in the Board Room. Our Italian heritage photos, which graced the walls of our corridors for many years, are going to return soon, but in a more orderly and secured fashion. The committee that the ICC Board appointed to work with the Bartolotta Group on this project has been busy since the end of Festa Italiana. They are conducting an inventory of all of the photos, getting information on each photo, and studying the framing needs. They hope to provide information on each photo that is put up, so our visitors can put into perspective what was happening in Milwaukee’s Italian American community at the time the photo was taken. We are working on plans for remodeling the bocce courts with the work commencing after the completion of the fall bocce season.
Our 40th Festa We now have our 40th Festa Italiana in the books, and I can report that it looks like it will be a success, as both our attendance and our profits were up. First of all, I want to thank the volunteers and the managers who worked so hard, giving of their time and talents. Many of our volunteers work year round, and to experience a success like the 2017 Festa brings us great joy and confidence. With the nearly all day rain on our opening day and a poor attendance, we didn’t initially know what to expect, but we bounced back the rest of the weekend. We had a big crowd on Saturday like we haven’t seen in years! The large attendance also brought to light some problems such as long lines and long waiting times at the food vendors’ booths.
ICC President/Festa General Co-Chair Dean Cannestra read one of the petitions at the 40th Festa Mass. (Times photo by Tom Hemman)
We are working to address these problems by having more vendor windows open and additional menu options. I believe the 2017 Festa can serve as a steppingstone for us to grow and prosper.
Thanks again to everyone who took part as a volunteer, attendee or vendor in our 40th Festa. Che Dio ti benedica. May God bless you! – Dean Cannestra ICC President Festa General Co-Chair
by Thomas Hemman Times Editor Through the efforts of the Nominating Committee and the members who attended the Aug. 17 general meeting, a slate of officers and directors has been chosen for the Italian Community Center election. President Dean Cannestra is assured of his second term as he is unopposed. The three other incum-
bent officers are also without opposition. They are: Vice President Joseph Emanuele and Secretary, Susan (DeSanctis) Christiansen, both of whom were first elected to their respective positions last year, and Sergeant-At-Arms Joanne (Sanfilippo) Czubek, who has held the same post since the 2010 election. Giuseppe Vella will continue to serve in the non-elective position of immediate past president. There was nearly a race for treasurer as the current office holder, Sam Purpero, is vacating the post that he has held for seven
Races for directors’ seats in ICC election
Please turn to page 5
Cosa c’è dentro? What’s inside?
FC Palermo wins again
Casino Night is Sept. 8
Salute to Dick Contino
OSIA volunteers help Festa succeed
page 2
page 3
page 4 page 7
Live music and Italian classes at ICC pages 8 & 9
Who won Festa’s contests pages 10 & 11 40th Festa in review
Club & Society news This photo gives you a little bit of an idea of the big crowd on Saturday, July 22, that ICC President/Festa
Co-Chair Dean Cannestra mentions in his message. (Times photo by Tom Hemman)
pages 12-17 page 18
Sal Mussomeli remembered page 19