NY's ‘Italian American of the Year' shares dream of Smithsonian museum — and why he's rubbing elbows with MLB stars

New York Post

20 hours ago

Rome wasn't built in a day, either.
New York's 'Italian American of the Year' has big aspirations to spotlight the powerful paesans who have been the nation's backbone for generations: a Smithsonian museum dedicated to culture Italiano.
'It's not about the Sunday sauce,' Chris Vaccaro, founder of the Italian American Heritage Society of Long Island, told The Post.
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6 Chris R. Vaccaro grabs a slice at Little Vincent's Pizza in Huntington, N.Y. on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
'I have this really personal quest to make sure that we don't take for granted the journey that they made here…I'm living their American dream — and their American dream is to not forget Italy.'
Vaccaro, a 38-year-old dad of three who also teaches media at Hofstra University, strives to leverage success on Long Island for the broader goal of achieving nationwide recognition in DC.
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It is an initiative shared with the Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, which comprises approximately 70 individual branches across America.
'The bottom line is, it would be great if Italian Americans had a national museum,' Vacarro said.
'It would be important for our heritage group.'
6 Chris R. Vaccaro poses for a portrait by the Columbus statue in Huntington, N.Y. on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
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The Lake Grove man, who also runs the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame, was given the annual honor of 'Italian American of the Year' by the New York Conference of Italian American Legislators in late May.
It was a no-brainer, considering he is known to enjoy espresso with Mets Italian legend Mike Piazza in a baseball dugout — when he has spare time from running conferences, speaking to schools, and organizing collaborative events showing that Italy is anything but little on LI.
'This is one of the most populated areas of Italians outside of Italy in the world, and that's something that we should all recognize,' said Vaccaro, whose family came from Palermo, Sicily, in the 19th century.
6 Chris R. Vaccaro wears pocket squares with the colors of Italy while posing for a portrait in Huntington, N.Y. on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
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'There are nearly a million Italian-Americans here,' added Vaccaro, who notes radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi operated out of Babylon, and the nation's first Italian-American elected to Congress, Francis B. Spinola, was from Suffolk County.
A real hit
The way that Vaccaro gets people to connect more with their heritage is a method close to home — plate, that is.
He knocks it out of the park in the sports world as a board member of the Italian American Baseball Foundation, which works with a majority of MLB teams to spray the tricolore around diamonds with special heritage nights at the ballpark.
6 Vaccaro also runs the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.
They've also honored Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, among others like Piazza, and work closely with former Bronx Bomber Francisco Cervelli to operate a youth training academy in Tuscany.
He's involved in the Mets' AA affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, turning into 'The Southern Tier Spicy Meatballs' for a few saucy games this upcoming August, as well.
'We have a hell of a lot of fun doing it,' said Vaccaro, who is hoping to toss out the first pitch for one.
6 Vaccaro is a board member of the Italian American Baseball Foundation.
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He also boasts that the inadvertent influence of Italian food 'has been celebrated to the grandest scale' on social media and is another ideal lure for people to scratch beneath the surface and learn the boot's true culture brought to the states.
He lauds the work of fellow Italian American of the Year Dr. Joe Scelsa, who operates NYC's Italian American Museum, and said success there will ideally pave the way for something in the nation's capital.
Vaccaro also has an ambition to work with the third and final winner of the Empire State's spaghetti superlative, pal Christopher Macchio of Holbrook — known more widely as President Trump's favorite tenor — on a White House Columbus Day commission ahead of October.
6 Chris R. Vaccaro poses for a portrait at Little Vincent's Pizza in Huntington, N.Y. on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
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More locally, however, the objective is to stop stunads from stereotyping and instead recognize how Italians built Long Island from the ground up for decades — literally.
'When you're looking at our roads, our buildings, the railways and expressway, the Italian-Americans had a really major piece of that…that has now evolved into Italian-Americans succeeding in all areas of American life,' he said.
'There's a very important piece of 'you work very hard, you come from this family that worked hard to get here,' and let's keep that going.'