Photo: Jeanne Griffin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Fog is good news in Alba. In November it sits low over the Langhe hills in the morning and again toward evening, and the locals will tell you that's when the best white truffles come out of the ground. Whether the fog does anything for the truffles or whether it just makes a nice story, I can't tell you. I can tell you it's the right weather for a plate of butter-slicked pasta with something shaved over the top.
This small Piedmont town has spent nearly a century building its name on an ugly, knobbly fungus that nobody has learned to farm. The International Alba White Truffle Fair runs through December 6 this year, according to the dates published for 2026, so there's a month left to go. Here's how to make the most of it.
Why this truffle is so hard to get
The white truffle, Tuber magnatum, grows underground around the roots of hardwood trees, usually oaks but also poplars, willows and lindens. It depends on its natural surroundings and can't be cultivated on purpose, unlike the black truffles grown on farms in other parts of Europe. That alone explains much of the price.
Finding one means walking the woods with a dog. One hunter near Alba told World Travel Guide that any breed can be trained for it, and that pigs are too hard to work with (a pig will also happily eat what it finds). In 2021 UNESCO added Italian truffle hunting and extraction to its list of intangible cultural heritage, so that walk in the woods is officially a tradition with paperwork.
The harvest has been getting harder. One recent report on Alba's truffle trade says hunters now find about a fifth of what they found 15 years ago, blaming climate change and erratic rain. I'd treat the exact figure with caution, but nobody I've read disputes the direction.
How one man built a fair around it
Much of Alba's reputation goes back to Giacomo Morra, a trader and restaurateur who lived from 1889 to 1963 and had a showman's instincts. He added a truffle exhibition to the town's harvest fair in 1928, and the following year it became a dedicated truffle show. He also began sending prize truffles to celebrities, a publicity idea that still seems clever today. Rita Hayworth received his Truffle of the Year in 1949, and gifts went out to Marilyn Monroe and Winston Churchill too.
The fair kept growing, and these days the center of it is a market in the Maddalena Courtyard, where truffles are displayed, assessed and sold. The Palio degli Asini, a donkey race invented as a jab at neighboring Asti, happens on the first Sunday of October, so you've missed that one until next year. The tasting side carries on, and there's still plenty to do.
What to order
White truffles aren't cooked. They're shaved raw over something warm and plain, which lets the heat carry the aroma. The classic plates are all simple on purpose.
Tajarin is the local egg-yolk pasta, cut thin and dressed with butter. If you only order one truffle dish, I'd make it this one. Fried eggs are the cheap-looking choice that turns out to be excellent, and carne cruda all'albese, chopped raw veal, is the one to try if you like tartare. Risotto works beautifully as well, and porcini are a natural match while they last.
Restaurants usually price the truffle separately, by weight, so ask how it's charged before the server starts shaving. It's an easy question to ask, and a lot less awkward than the conversation over the bill.
If you want to buy one
Go to the official market early in the day, when the selection is best, and make use of the fair's quality-control service before you commit to a whole truffle. Alba is also home to the National Centre for Truffle Studies, founded in 1996, and to a beginner a poor truffle looks a lot like a good one.
Smell it. A good white truffle should be intense and unmistakable from a few inches away, and it should feel firm. Then plan to use it fast, because the aroma fades within days. Bringing one home across a border raises its own questions, so check your own country's food import rules before you buy.
Making the trip work
Alba is an easy add-on to a few days in Turin, and it's small enough to cover on foot. If you want vineyards too, the Barolo hills are close, and November weekdays are quieter than the fair's weekends. Book restaurants early for weekends, especially the Saturdays before the fair closes. Rain and fog are normal, so pack accordingly and rent a car only if you're comfortable on narrow hill roads in poor visibility.
If Alba doesn't fit your dates, San Miniato in Tuscany holds its white truffle market from November 14 to 29 this year, on the published schedule. Confirm dates on the official sites before you book anything, since these events do shift.
Order the eggs, and stop by the market before lunch. You'll have the smell on your coat for the rest of the day, which I think counts as a souvenir.
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