On 10 October the International White Truffle Fair opens in Alba, and for two months the Langhe become the world capital of a fungus that grows underground, cannot be sown and costs more than almost any other food. Anyone visiting the fair for the first time risks going home with the wrong truffle, storing it badly or wasting it on a dish that does not deserve it. This is the guide to avoid that, from the woods to the table.
What it is
The white truffle is Tuber magnatum, described in 1788 by the Turin physician Vittorio Pico, which is why it is also called Tuber magnatum Pico. It is an underground fungus: it lives beneath the soil in symbiosis with the roots of certain trees, above all oaks, poplars, willows and limes, and it needs particular soils and humidity. Unlike the black truffle, the white can hardly be cultivated at all: what reaches the stalls grows wild in the woods. That is why the quantity changes a great deal from year to year, and the price with it.
When and how it is hunted
The national law of 1985 sets the white truffle season between 1 October and 31 December, and the regions may adapt the calendar: in Piedmont, for example, the season opens at the end of September and runs into January. The hunters, called trifolau, often go out at night so that nobody sees their spots. They work with dogs, trained to smell the scent underground and signal it without damaging the truffle; in Italy pigs, which would instinctively eat it, have been banned by that same 1985 law. In 2021 UNESCO added truffle hunting and extraction in Italy to the intangible heritage of humanity.
The Alba fair
The fair has been held since 1928 and is the oldest in Italy. It began as a side event of the grape harvest festival, thanks to a hotel owner, Giacomo Morra, who also came up with the idea of giving the best truffle of the year to a celebrity: recipients have included Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and King Farouk of Egypt. In 2026 the fair is open every weekend from 10 October to 8 December, with the market, sensory analyses and live cooking. The most awaited moment is the world auction at the castle of Grinzane Cavour, the village where Camillo Benso was mayor for seventeen years: there the largest truffles of the season are sold in a link-up with buyers around the world.
How to choose one
- Scent first. A ripe white truffle can be smelled from a distance, with notes of garlic, honey and hay. If you have to hold it right under your nose to smell anything, it is unripe or old.
- Texture. It should be firm to the touch, neither soft nor spongy: if it gives under your fingers it has lost water and aroma.
- Shape does not matter. Smooth, round truffles look better, but irregular or lobed ones are no worse. What matters is that there are no broken parts or holes made by insects.
- Weight. You pay by weight, so any soil stuck to it should be removed before weighing. At the fair market the truffles on sale are checked: buy there or from hunters you trust.
How to store and eat it
A white truffle does not wait: eat it within a few days. At home, wrap it in a sheet of kitchen paper, changed every day, and keep it in the fridge in a closed glass jar. Do not wash it under the tap: clean it with a soft brush just before using it. Above all, do not cook it, because heat destroys the aroma: shave it very thin, raw, over the finished dish. The dishes that show it off best are the simplest, with butter, eggs or cheese: tajarin, the Piedmontese egg tagliolini, a fried egg, fonduta cheese sauce, plain risotto, raw beef chopped with a knife.
The other white truffle capitals
Alba is not alone. Acqualagna, in the Marche, has Italy's second market and between October and November holds the most important white truffle fair in central Italy (27 October). San Miniato, in the hills between Florence and Pisa, hosts its own market fair in November, and its hills are among the great truffle grounds of the world. For the prized black truffle, the date is in late winter in Norcia, with the market fair at the end of February. The month's other festivals are in the October festival agenda, and the Langhe villages to see during the fair are in our guide to autumn villages.
