Tour · Autumn & Winter
Join a trained trifolao and his dog on an early morning truffle hunt in the Monferrato woods — the ancient tradition of the tartufo bianco d'Asti, one of the most prized and most site-specific foods in the world. The hunt runs at first light, in silence, following the dog through the forest floor. The dog — trained from puppyhood to detect the scent of the truffle underground — works in short bursts, pausing when it catches a signal and beginning to dig, the trifolao close behind to uncover what the dog has found. The process is unhurried, procedural and entirely absorbing to watch.
The white truffle season runs from October to December; the black truffle from December through February. The hunt takes two to three hours in the early morning and is followed by a return to Cascina Vignole in Montafia for a dinner built entirely around your harvest — tagliolini, fried eggs, risotto, each dish a vehicle for the truffle rather than a competition with it. Places are very limited; reservation is essential and must be made well in advance. We can arrange the introduction from the villa.