Our last night on the road after yet another day marvelling at the unbelievable emerald colours and jaw-dropping scenery in this exquisite little region of Italy. We have enjoyed truffles with hand-made pasatelli, on toast and in honey – all of it intoxicating. The black summer truffles are very decent but in this region the big star are the white truffles – only available around lovely little Acqualagna and in Alba. They appear in the autumn, and are best after the first frost, permeating the air in the mountains with their intoxicating scent. When I say they appear, that is of course not strictly speaking true, as truffles are a subterranean fungus requiring a good animal nose to sniff them out and unearth them.

The traditional truffle pigs have been replaced with dogs. The advantage of dogs over pigs is that they can be taught to relatively gently dig up and hold in their mouths the truffles, thus persevering the whole truffle and also the underground root system which is needed for next year’crop.

We  will return with a small group of guests this autumn to go up the mountain to see these lovely dogs in action and to enjoy the wonderful Acqualagna 50th Truffle Festival with its truffle stalls, al fresco pop up restaurants, cookery demonstrations and wine tastings. Check out our website for more details about the program,