I’m not aware that any of the Italian family I married into has membership in the Order of the Sons of Italy, but the group has awarded 16th District Republican Congressman Don Manzullo its Leonardo da Vinci Award. You can read the press release below. The photo is of first term Peoria Congressman Aaron Schock with Manzullo at a recent Rockford fundraiser by the congressman’s Press Secretary Rich Carter at my request.

[ORLAND PARK, IL] The largest organization of Italian-American men and women in America has honored Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) with its Leonardo da Vinci Award of Excellence.

Manzullo, whose grandparents lived in Calabria, Marsala and Palermo in Italy before they emigrated to the United States, accepted the award May 3rd from the Order Sons of Italy in America Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois.

The Gala awards ceremony took place at the Drury Lane Oakbrook.

“It is a tremendous honor for me to receive this prestigious award from the Order Sons of Italy in America,” Manzullo said.

“Growing up and working in my family’s Italian restaurant in New Milford, my Italian-American heritage has always been an important part of my life. I accept this Leonardo da Vinci Award on behalf of my grandparents, Vito and Carmela DiGirolomo and Antonio and Ignasia Manzullo, who came to the United States in search of the American dream, and my parents, Frank and Kathryn Manzullo, whose son was elected to the United States Congress.”

In addition to receiving the da Vinci award, Manzullo will also be featured in the summer edition of the Amici Journal, the National Italian American Lifestyle Magazine.