A Truffle Hunt in Tuscany

8 am in Montalcino

The morning of 6 November 2024, 9°C, with fog drifting through the Brunello vines of Castello Banfi. The Wanvela team of six plus Massimo (host), the Tuscan Donatella family, and three Lagotto dogs (Birba, Olivia, Pepe) walked into the pine forest behind the estate.

Lagotto Romagnolo - the truffle dog

The Lagotto is an Italian breed bred specifically for truffle-hunting for more than 800 years. In earlier centuries, female pigs were used because of their sense of smell, but pigs liked to eat the truffles, so few survived to the basket. The Lagotto was trained to indicate the location without digging.

How the dogs work

Birba (9 years old, the most experienced) ran slowly with her nose close to the ground. She stopped abruptly at the root of an oak tree and began digging gently with her paws. Donatella moved in and dug by hand, an 18-gram white truffle emerged as the day's first find.

Two hours of work, seven white truffles totaling 84 grams. The largest was 22 grams. Market price €350.

"White truffle is luxury, not because it's expensive, but because you can't find it without a dog, a person, and a season working in concert. Three things at once." - Donatella, truffle hunter, fourth generation

Why white truffle grows here

White truffle (Tuber magnatum) grows only in symbiosis with the roots of certain trees, oak, hazelnut, poplar, in soil with pH between 7.5 and 8 and the right moisture. Montalcino has this chemistry exactly.

The white truffle season runs October to December, some years stretching into January. White truffle does not appear in any other months. Black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is harvested December to March.

Lunch with Donatella's family

After the hunt, Donatella's family opened their home to the group. A 200-year-old Tuscan farmhouse, an open kitchen, a long wooden table, a wood-fired oven.

The menu:

• Tagliatelle al tartufo bianco, fresh handmade pasta with shaved white truffle
• Uova al tartufo, eggs from the farm's hens with shaved truffle
• Cinghiale (wild boar) stew, that Lorenzo (Donatella's husband) hunted himself in the forest behind the house
• Pecorino di Pienza with chestnut honey
• Brunello 2018, a bottle from Lorenzo's private cellar

What we learned

After lunch, Donatella taught us what books don't say:

• White truffle aroma lasts 5–7 days after harvest, eat quickly
• Storage, wrap in rice or paper towel inside an airtight container, refrigerated at 3°C
• Never wash with water, brush off the soil
• Shave only onto hot food, heat releases the aroma

Back to Banfi

3 pm back at the hotel, Wanvela arranged for every family to take home a 20-gram truffle stone, wrapped in rice in an airtight jar to carry to Bangkok. The aroma held strong for three days.

When we run this

Truffle hunting in a Wanvela Italy trip is available only in the October–December window, as an add-on to the Italy 7-night itinerary. €280 per guest (includes lunch + 20g truffle).