FRIDAY, MARCH 6th

We hope this Friday finds you safe, warm, and excited for the weekend. Hopefully you are beside a pool (this image is from La Fattoria del Gelso in Umbria), but if you find yourself snowed in, we hope you have a relaxing and toasty weekend. Here’s what we have been reading at Via Umbria this week from around the web — grab some espresso and take a look.

So you think we are having bad weather in the Northeast? A dramatic helicopter rescue happened in the Italian Dolomites as 200 skiers were stranded when high winds blew a tree onto a cable car line.

An important new book on what makes Italy, Italy, got a delightful review by the New York Times. We can’t wait to crack it open.

Here are 20 things you have been doing wrong when cooking Italian food, and why and how to fix them.

Olive oil fraud is nothing new, but a class action suit to protect the purity of the labels is something to watch. At Via Umbria, we personally meet our suppliers, mostly tiny farms, to ensure that our oil is top quality, and not the fake stuff. Stock up on our trustworthy and tasty favorites online or in store. .

It’s not exaclty Umbria, but this New York Times Travel video of 36 hours in Rome has us craving la dolce vita.

Happy Weekend!

–Via Umbria