Hello Italiophiles, and welcome to the weekend! You know the routine – grab a glass of the good wine and sip away as we take you through what we have been reading this week in Italian news.

A miracle of nature! A lot of flamingos land in Lake Trasimeno, in Umbria. Exciting stuff.

Some sad news regarding small business in DC – our city outpaces the nation in the disappearance of mom and pop stores. This is a subject we deeply care about, we greatly appreciate those who shop at friendly neighborhood stores that are the character and faces of their neighborhoods.

However, there is some good news for buoyancy in small business. This New York Times story from northern Italy takes a look at how small artisans pulling together in the face of a recession continue their craft.

Elizabeth Minchilli’s new book, Eating Rome, was just published a few days ago. Longtime fans of her blog, we are making this book our June book club selection!

The oldest samples of Neanderthal DNA have been extracted from remains embedded in a cave in southern Italy, confirming that the so-called Altamura Man was a Neanderthal who lived around 150,000 years ago. The photo is creepy but the news is cool.

We hope this weekend involves good wine and good food. We are planning on cooking up the rest of the season’s asparagus, artichokes, and peas and pairing it with some good Tabbarini Bianco dell’Umbira (pictured is the owner of the vineyard during our Vinopalooza tour). Spring is in the air!

— Via Umbria