Peter Belmonte

PETER L. BELMONTE is a retired Air Force officer, historian, and author. He holds a master's degree in history from California State University, Stanislaus, and has published eight books on military history. His latest book, "In the Thickest of the Battle: The Men of the Astor Battery in the Spanish-American War," will be released by McFarland Publishers later this year. He is currently writing a multi-volume history of Italian-Americans in the Spanish-American War.

Lou Bruno

LOU BRUNO, author of The Love of San Demetrio and The Days When Ella Came Down the Stairs, honed his writing skills over a forty-three-year career in sales management with Procter & Gamble. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, and his Masters in Business Administration from Houston Christian University. Lou is repaying his “debt of gratitude” to the immigrants who came before us by donating copies of his books to Italian Heritage and Cultural Societies, and by telling their stories which embody the Italian family’s timeless virtues of Love, Faith, and Unwavering Perseverance. Lou hopes to write a screenplay so that this inspiring true story can be shared with a broader audience. Lou, and his wife of 42 years, Adele, parents of 7 children plus twelve grandchildren (and counting), reside in Central Florida.

Frank Di Piero of the podcast Italian American Life with Frankie D., recently had the pleasure of interviewing Lou Bruno. Please check out the podcast interview here!

Marc DiPaolo

MARC DiPAOLO, a Humanities professor at Moraine Valley Community College, is the author of Fake Italian: An 83% True Autobiography with Pseudonyms and Some Tall Tales (2021). He has also written academic books about environmentalist science fiction and political symbolism in superhero stories, as well as edited Unruly Catholics from Dante to Madonna (2013). His next book (co-edited with Anthony Lioi) is Italian/American Fantastika: Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction from Pinocchio to Star Trek.

Frank Di Piero

FRANK DI PIERO is a former Chicago Business Owner and current host of Italian American Life with Frankie D., the very first Italian American Podcast at www.ItalianAmericanLife.com. He is the author of many Italian American children’s book, a Casa Italia Chicago board member and volunteer at the Italian Cultural Center and Library in Stone Park.

Richard Leto

RICHARD LETO is born and raised in the Italian American (IA) enclave of South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (South Philly). He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife Susan. He is a proud third-generation IA and a member of various IA clubs/organizations. He is the grandson of Italian immigrants who emigrated to America during the Great Arrival of mass migration to America.

His grandparents and parents settled in the Little Italy enclave of South Philly. On his paternal side his grandparents Francesco and Caterina (née Tropiano) Leto emigrated (circa 1910) from Santa Caterina dello Ionio (Calabria-Catanzaro). On his maternal side his grandparents Aniello and Elisa (née Basile) Lucera emigrated (circa 1902/1910) from Comune di Biccari (Puglia-Foggia). Rich is a contributing writer to various IA publications, and he enjoys informal writing as a hobbyist about the IA experience.

His book, “My Italian American Roots” is featured in the Winter-2026 issue of the “Philadelphia RowHome” magazine and appears in the “Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America” (OSDIA) Book Club. Rich is the Ambassador for the online publication “We the Italians” in Columbus, responsible for highlighting IA individuals/events/businesses/organizations that preserve and promote IA heritage and culture.

Leah Eskin

LEAH ESKIN writes about food and other pressing matters. For nearly 20 years her award-winning column “Home on the Range” ran in the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers. Carnivore king Meathead Goldwyn dubs Eskin “the poet laureate of recipes.” Baking diva Dorie Greenspan calls her work “smart, honest, literate, and funny—very funny.” Eskin writes the dessert column for Midwest Living magazine and is the owner of Crumble Handmade Pastry. She lives in Chicago with her husband and their chocolate Lab, Milo.

Michael J. Rosanova

January 25, 1950. It was a Wednesday. It was snowing. St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital, Division Street at Leavitt. Polish nuns, refugees from the War or not, heads wrapped in white wimpels, topped by flight-worthy origami.

One of the first things Mike could see as his newborn eyes began to focus: Sister Anonymous, one of Mike's mother's teachers in the nursing school. She knew Mike's father, a Taylor Street kid who had graduated from the U of I Med School in the Class of '38, a few years before America joined the War. Internship at St. Mary's.

He was still doing rounds there and carrying his black leather house calls bag around with him that snowy January 25th. Bought a three flat at Central and North, and opened his first office there, a few streets north and more than a few west of of St. Mary's on Division, about ten minutes east of Oak Park and a house big enough to house six kids and a grandma and grampa in a neighborhood of lace curtains and proper northern Europeans. Catholic ones, mostly. Not used to the company of garlic-eaters.

Mike was meant to be a middle class Catholic school boy. Parish school. Local Catholic high school for boys..

Great at spelling. Top grades. Hard worker. Remarkably sickly kid for a doctor's family. Football team? Notre Dame? Med School at U of I? But then there was Yale. But then there was Naples.

Big brains. Broken hearts. Excerpts from a life.

Carla Simonini

CARLA A. SIMONINI writes about the ways Italy—both real and imagined—has shaped American stories of art, identity, and belonging. Her book Traveling Italy, Writing America traces how writers from the nineteenth century to the present have turned to Italy to understand both themselves and America. A longtime professor of Italian and Italian American literature and former editor of Italian Americana, she now divides her time between writing, teaching, and leading cultural journeys in Italy.

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