Friday, November 6, 2026
For members of Lynbrook's Per Sempre Lodge No. 2344, Italian Heritage Night on Oct. 20 was more than a celebration of food, music and tradition. It was an opportunity to learn about an Italian immigrant whose contributions to one of America's most recognizable landmarks went largely unrecognized for decades.
Lou Del Bianco, an actor, author and storyteller, visited the lodge at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Hempstead Avenue to share the story of his grandfather, Luigi Del Bianco, the chief carver of Mount Rushmore, and his family's decades-long fight to secure recognition for his work.
The presentation struck a chord with lodge members, particularly those who had immigrated to America themselves.
“His presentation touched many of our members on a deep personal level,” said Robert Baccari, president of Per Sempre Lodge No. 2344. “Some became emotional as they listened because they had experienced similar struggles themselves.”
For Lou, who was making his first appearance in Lynbrook, the response was especially meaningful.
“It's like they were claiming Luigi as their own,” he said. “Which I love. I want everybody to feel like Luigi is a member of their own family.”
Lou's connection to his grandfather began long before he understood the significance of his work.
As Luigi's only grandson and namesake, he shared a special bond with him growing up. After Luigi died in 1969 at age 76, Lou discovered a brochure about Mount Rushmore and asked his mother about it.
She explained that his grandfather had helped carve the faces of the four presidents depicted on the monument. Lou was so excited by the discovery that he told his classmates about it.
Years later, his uncle, Caesar Del Bianco, Luigi's youngest son, read The Carving of Mount Rushmore by Rex Alan Smith, a book detailing the monument's construction. Despite Luigi's important role, his name was not mentioned.
The omission angered Caesar, and he and Lou decided to investigate.
In 1988, Lou traveled to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota to learn how the monument recognized his grandfather's contributions. He found Luigi's name on a large plaque listing approximately 400 people associated with the project, but nothing distinguishing his role as chief carver.
“I thought, this is like taking somebody out of the lead role in a movie and making him an extra,” Del Bianco said.
Determined to uncover the full story, Lou and Caesar made six trips to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., examining historical correspondence and records belonging to Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum.
Their research revealed just how important Luigi had been to the monument's construction.
A classically trained stone carver from Italy, Luigi brought specialized skills to Mount Rushmore at a time when many of the workers hired during the Great Depression were unemployed miners with little carving experience.
Borglum, who designed the monument, relied on Luigi to help bring his artistic vision to life. Luigi trained workers to transfer measurements from models to the mountain and helped oversee the carving process before refining the presidents' facial features, including their eyes, noses and mouths.
“What my grandfather did was be able to translate Borglum's vision into reality,” Lou said.
But the work was not without challenges.
According to Del Bianco, historical documents revealed that his grandfather faced harassment and attempts to force him off the project. Luigi's specialized position and relatively high wages created tension during the Great Depression, when jobs were scarce.
Luigi left the project several times, but Borglum repeatedly sought his return, insisting that the finishing work on the presidential faces could not continue without him.
Del Bianco said Borglum even took out a second mortgage on his Connecticut home to help pay Luigi's salary when the commission overseeing the project resisted paying him.
Despite the difficulties, Luigi returned to Mount Rushmore in 1940 to complete the finishing work.
Lou recalled that before his grandfather died, he said he would have worked on Mount Rushmore without pay if given the opportunity again, because of the privilege it represented.
“Here's an immigrant who comes from Italy and carves presidents' faces,” Lou said. “I mean, if that's not the American dream, what is?”
Although Lou and Caesar believed their research would lead to immediate recognition, they instead encountered years of resistance from park officials.
Del Bianco said officials maintained that Mount Rushmore honored all its workers equally, despite the documents identifying his grandfather's specialized responsibilities.
For approximately 25 years, Lou continued contacting park administrators, historians and government officials, hoping someone would reconsider the evidence.
In 2009, Caesar died without seeing his father's contributions receive the recognition they had sought.
Before his death, Lou recalled, his uncle urged him to finish what they had started.
Eventually, Del Bianco connected with Cam Sholly, a National Park Service regional director who took an interest in the family's findings.
According to Lou, Sholly arranged for historians to examine the documents and helped secure formal recognition for Luigi's role.
In 2017, Mount Rushmore unveiled a plaque honoring Luigi Del Bianco as chief carver, bringing an end to the family's decades-long campaign.
When Lou returned to Mount Rushmore this past June, he found that park rangers were familiar with his grandfather's story and eager to share it with visitors. Some even told him it was among their favorite stories associated with the monument.
Today, Del Bianco continues sharing Luigi's legacy through a one-man performance that combines family history, acting and historical research.
During the presentation, he portrays his grandfather, recounting his journey to America and his experiences carving Mount Rushmore. He also shares historical documents uncovered during the family's research.
Del Bianco, who was born and raised in southern Westchester, has performed the program since 2010 at schools, community organizations and Italian-American lodges across the country.
He also portrays Abraham Lincoln in a separate one-man show, a fitting connection considering his grandfather helped carve Lincoln's face into Mount Rushmore.
In 2017, Del Bianco published Out of Rushmore's Shadow: The Luigi Del Bianco Story, and he is currently working on a screenplay about his grandfather's life.
But his mission extends beyond preserving one family's history.
“I think one of the main themes is that sometimes history doesn't tell the whole story,” Del Bianco said. “And you have to find out the rest of that story.”
He hopes Luigi's experience encourages people to learn about the countless immigrants and skilled artisans whose contributions helped shape America, from Italian craftsmen who created mosaics in New York City's subway stations to the Piccirilli brothers, who carved the Lincoln Memorial.
He also hopes younger Italian Americans will explore the accomplishments of immigrants beyond the familiar portrayals of organized crime in popular culture.
For Baccari, that message captured the purpose of the lodge's annual Italian Heritage Night, which brought members together for Italian food, desserts, music and a celebration of their shared traditions.
“It was more than a history lesson; it was a reminder of where we came from, the sacrifices made by those who came before us, and why it is so important to preserve and share our Italian heritage with future generations,” Baccari said.
For Lou, one of the most memorable moments came when an older woman approached him after the presentation and told him that his portrayal of Luigi, particularly his Italian accent, reminded her of her husband.
After years of fighting to ensure his grandfather would no longer be overlooked, Del Bianco now has the opportunity to share Luigi's story with people who see something of their own families in his journey.
What began as a grandson's determination to honor someone he loved has become a way to recognize generations of immigrants whose talents and sacrifices helped build America.
