Oh, say can you “C” the real Chicago Italians?

As an English teacher, it always stuck me that, during Italian American Heritage Month in October, there are only two Italians largely associated with Chicago, both with letter “C” surnames and with tainted reputations: Al Capone, aka “America’s gangster,” and Christopher Columbus, transmogrified from explorer to exploiter.

Thankfully, another Italian with a “C” name has been getting more recognition lately: Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini, the Catholic missionary whose sainthood ceremony in 1946 drew a crowd of 100,000 people to Soldier Field. Though buried in New York, Cabrini died in Chicago in 1917, twelve years after building Columbus Hospital in Lincoln Park. The hospital is gone but the National Shrine of Mother Cabrini stands on its spot, a dignified homage to her positive legacy.

Of course, the letter “C” also stands for Chicago. In researching the Italian American community, I discovered two more positive Italians with “C” names.

Unlike Capone, Columbus and Cabrini, both are more Chicago-adjacent and should be much more well-known: John B. Cuneo and Vivian (Della) Chiesa.

But first, a quick review of Chicago history.

Around 1780, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, son of a French father and Haitian mother, became the first non-native settler in what was to eventually become Chicago. However, a century earlier (1680-1681), another explorer, Henri de Tonty, sailed through the same area with Robert La Salle. Irony of ironies: Unlike Du Sable and La Salle, Tonty wasn’t French; he was an Italian from Gaeta (between Rome and Naples) whose name had been “Frenchified.”

Tonti (the correct spelling) continued down the Mississippi River and founded settlements in Peoria and Starved Rock, Illinois. Plaques on the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago and in Starved Rock honor him. Even Arkansas claims him!

I bring up this digression to stress that, even after its founding in 1837, Chicago was still considered unexplored territory. That’s why, in 1847, two brave Italian brothers, Giovanni and Riccardo Cuneo, left their native Genoa (Columbus’s home turf) and followed Tonti’s route, seeking greater farming opportunities. They landed in a burgeoning American city with a Native American name: “Chicago.”

Riccardo didn’t stay. He went to California and founded a successful store for gold-rush workers needing food and tools. His brother stayed in Chicago, Americanized his name to John B, and also flourished. Within a generation, Cuneo’s success in food produce and real estate made his family a member of Chicago’s wealthy Gold Coast, setting entrepreneurial standards for generations.

In 1881, John B. Cuneo financed Assumption Church, the first all-Italian parish in the city. It is still located in River North between the Merchandise Mart and Gene & Georgetti's Steakhouse. John’s son, Frank, expanded his father’s wealth via more real estate investments.

Frank’s son, John F. Cuneo Sr., founded the famous publishing company Cuneo Press in 1907 and the Frank Cuneo Memorial Hospital in 1957. And John’s son, John F. Cuneo Jr, in addition to overseeing another Cuneo property — the Golf Mill Shopping Center in Niles — opened his family’s Libertyville mansion to the public in 1991. Six years later, the Julia Roberts film “My Best Friend’s Wedding” was filmed on its elegant, Italianate grounds.

As for Ms. Della Chiesa? Born into an opera-loving household on Oct. 9, 1915, Della Chiesa won a singing contest on WBBM Chicago radio in 1935 — and yes, an opera star was born. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1960s, Della Chiesa was a household name. She headlined with maestro Arturo Toscanini of the NBC Orchestra; performed on Milton Berle’s TV variety show; and sang the National Anthem at the final game of the 1959 World Series at Comiskey Park.

Even more tantalizing: In a 1988 interview with writer Charles Mintzer, Chiesa noted that she once had a short-lived talk-show on local ABC-TV Channel 7. One of her young interns was future Chicago talk-show legend Phil Donahue. ABC-TV was also where Oprah Winfrey began her decades-long dominance after Donahue.

But did Della Chiesa set the original template? The mystery remains.

So when you clink your wine glasses for John B. Cuneo and Vivian Della Chiesa, be sure to use another worthy “c” word — the joyful Italian cheer “Cent’anni!” (100 years!)

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Chicagoan Bill Dal Cerro, a Midwest analyst with the New York-based Italic Institute of America, initiated and co-produced a 2007 PBS documentary for WTTW-Channel 11 called, “And They Came to Chicago: The Italian American Legacy.”

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