Our Good Vibes feature spotlights websites, blogs, videos and podcast from around the world that celebrate Italy’s inimitable spirit. If you have a favorite online offering you’d like to share, send it to info@franoi.com. For more, follow us on Facebook. Marinaro explores San Fele in an Ellington mood Filming on the rain-drenched roads and narrow, winding walkways of an Italian village on a dark, foggy night, Paul Marinaro explores the depths of loneliness in this introduction to his two-album project, “Mood Ellington.” As the acclaimed crooner wanders through San Fele, his ancestral home in Basilicata, his rendition of  the Ellington …

East meets West The upcoming Lyric Opera production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” offers a uniquely Eastern take on this timeless tragedy of a doomed geisha in love with a British Navy lieutenant. Starring Karah Son, one of the leading interpreters of Butterfly in our time, the opera will be directed by Matthew Ozawa, the son of a Caucasian mother and Japanese father. “This new production reclaims the opera’s narrative through the lens of an entirely Japanese and Japanese American creative team and amplifies the voices of an entirely female Japanese design collective,” Ozawa writes. The opera will run from March …

The North American Pizza & Culinary Academy in Lisle, in suburban Chicago, is hosting its sixth annual Festa della Sopressata on April 25. The competition pits local sopressata makers in a battle for first, second and third place. Attended by more than 80 people last year, the event is hosted by chef Anthony Iannone, NAPCA founder, and co-sponsored by Pastorelli Food Products and Triaforni, an Italian manufacturer of pizza ovens and related products. Special hosts include Frank “The Sodfather” Balestri, a past winner and now instructor of sopressata classes at NAPCA. Judging will be led by past winner Lou Santilo. …

Carmine’s, one of Chicago’s most iconic Italian restaurants, reopened at 1037 N. Rush St. after a two-year, multimillion-dollar renovation that included major interior and exterior upgrades. The restaurant is owned by Alex Dana, founder and president of the Rosebud Restaurant Group, who first opened Rosebud on Taylor Street in 1976. Carmine’s originally opened in 1994, Block Club Chicago reported. “Carmine’s has always been about bringing people together around great food and genuine hospitality,” Dana said in a statement reported by the news site. “This reopening allows us to honor that history while creating something exciting and relevant for the next …

The Chicago-based restaurant group Ballyhoo Hospitality this winter opened its 14th location, DeNucci’s Hinsdale, located at 8 E. 1st Street in downtown Hinsdale. DeNucci’s has existing locations in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and suburban Highland Park. Guests at the Hinsdale location can find familiar classics like Branzino Piccata, Eggplant Parmesan and Veal Marsala, alongside nightly specials such as Lasagna Bolognese. Leading the kitchen, chef Salvatore “Sal” Lo Cascio lends his signature touch to the restaurant’s Monday Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza Day. Gluten-free Sicilian-style pizza is also available. “Opening in Hinsdale is both a milestone and a natural next step for Ballyhoo,” …

Did you know that music can help you figure out how to cook pasta al dente? Barilla has nine playlists on Spotify designed for that purpose, with songs whose duration corresponds to the cooking time for various pasta shapes. The playlists are titled “Absolute Carbonara” (19 minutes), “Mixtape Spaghetti” (nine minutes), “Boom Bap Fusilli” (11 minutes), “Moody Day Linguine” (10 minutes), “Pleasant Melancholy Penne” (11 minutes), “Best Song Penne” (11 minutes), “Top Hits Spaghetti” (nine minutes), “Timeless Emotion Fusilli” (11 minutes) and “Simply Classics Linguine” (10 minutes). Dubbed “Playlist Timer,” the campaign was created by Publicis Italy in 2021. For …

The Italian dining chain Olive Garden recently rolled out changes at its 900 restaurant locations across the United States, including 33 in Illinois, the U.S. Sun reported. Its menu now includes a “lighter portions” section with seven entrees available for dinner and on weekends: Chicken Parmigiana, Spaghetti & Meatballs, Cheese Ravioli, Fettuccine Alfredo, Eggplant Parmigiana, Lasagna Classico and Five Cheese Ziti al Forno. Known for offering grated-on-the-spot cheese on entrees, Olive Garden now features cheese graters for $19.99 when customers order food online. Each grater purchased includes a free block of the chain’s Romano. For more, click here.  

Holy Week is central to the spiritual lives of Italians on both sides of the Atlantic. The shrines of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of Pompeii and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini will play their parts from Palm Sunday (March 29) to Easter Sunday (April 5). OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL (Melrose Park) will celebrate Mass with the distribution of palms at 7:45 a.m. and noon in English and at 10:30 a.m. in Italian on Palm Sunday; Mass of the Last Supper in English and Italian and the washing of feet at 6 p.m. and adoration of the Altar …

The Italian American Executives of Transportation has gotten a running start on its 54th annual Awards Dinner and Celebration, naming its honorees as the calendar flipped from 2025 to 2026. Accepting this year’s Man of the Year accolade will be John Donato, who has held the position of chief of staff for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority since 2023. For a decade before that, Donato served as chief of procurement, overseeing contracts for the multibillion-dollar Move Illinois capital program. Efficient tollway operations and vendor outreach have been hallmarks of Donato’s career. The IAET’s 2026 Humanitarian of the Year will …

In Chicago’s crowded steakhouse scene, Deliz Italian Steakhouse brings a lot of assets, including its location, Chicago Magazine reported. Deliz opened in December, in the spot formerly occupied by the restaurant Etta, at 1840 W. North Ave. “We wanted to bring something to Bucktown so people don’t have to go to River North or Gold Coast or the West Loop,” chef Jake Peterson told the magazine. “We wanted to give people something closer to home that could be that date-night spot or let them just come into the bar and get a pasta.” Peterson worked at Etta, famous for its …