Originally posted by Frankie Graziano:
I was asking my Italian teacher about this the other day, and she told it was Loo-Chee-ano
That is correct!
His birth name was not Luciana (whitch would be pronounced "Loo-chee-ana"). His birth name was Lucania (Loo-Kah-nia).
Actually Luciano, pronounced with a sicilian dialect would be, "Loo-chee-anoo" or even "Loo-shee-anoo". the letter O is usually pronounced like the letter U in Sicilian.
Siciliano -> Sicilianu (See-shee-li-anoo)
Italiano -> 'Talianu (tal-i-anoo)
Or, like Tessio says in a deleted scene:
"Iu sugnu Tessiu". In standard Italian that would be:
"Io sono Tessio" ("I am Tessio").
(Yes, I am trying to learn sicilianu at the moment

)