Days of Our Lives Comings & Goings: Heated Rivalry Star Cast as Dante Vitali!
Days of Our Lives has cast Franco LoPresti, who starred on the smash hit hockey romance series Heated Rivalry, as Dante, a member of the notorious Vitali family and the man Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) announced that she was engaged to during a 2025 visit to Salem. He will first air on September 14, Deadline reported in breaking the news of LoPresti’s casting.
Who is Franco LoPresti?
Franco LoPresti is a Canadian actor who, in addition to his breakout role on Heated Rivalry, appeared in a 2025 episode of the CBS drama Tracker, starring Justin Hartley (ex-Adam Newman, The Young and the Restless) and in multiple projects for Hallmark and Lifetime. He is married to actress Emily Alatalo.
On Heated Rivalry, LoPresti played Cliff Marleau, a hockey player with ties to series leads Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams); Cliff is a friend of Ilya’s, and caused Shane’s concussion. LoPresti appeared in all six episodes of the show’s first season.
Dante Vitali Comes to Salem
Not much is known about the character LoPresti will be playing on DAYS, Dante Vitali, outside of his romantic involvement with Sami. He is a cousin of Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun) on her father’s side, and the family has established mafia ties.
In November 2025, the oft-married Sami shared the news of her latest engagement with one of her ex-husbands, Lucas Horton (Bryan R. Dattilo), when he spotted the flashy ring on her finger. Later, Sami encountered another former spouse, EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel), and he had quite the reaction when Sami disclosed the identity of her fiancé. “Are you out of your bloody mind?!” he gasped.
EJ voiced his objection to Sami marrying into a family of mobsters, but Sam insisted that her future groom had no involvement with that part of the family, which was based in Pennsylvania, while Dante resided in Italy. Furthermore, she claimed that Sami had never even met the duplicitous Ava. Sami subsequently admitted that she and Dante had not set a wedding date, and EJ scoffed, “Ten to one you don’t make it down the aisle.”
Sami will not be by Dante’s side when he makes his debut on Days of Our Lives on September 14. She will, however, be making an appearing on the show next year; the Peacock soap confirmed in July that Alison Sweeney is returning as Sami next year. The actress told TV Insider that she was “a bit nervous to jump into a pretty big story. It was a lot of dialogue and emotion.”
Are you looking forward to meeting the mysterious Dante? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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