Truffle Festivals In Italy: Everything You Need to Know

Truffle lovers are in luck – every fall, there are plenty of truffle festivals in Italy! These festivals, known as sagre, celebrate everything from wine to chestnuts to truffles. And better yet, you can find them all across the country.

We love sagre, because they’re a fantastic way to taste local foods directly from the producers, all while exploring off-the-beaten-path (and unfailingly beautiful) small towns. And you can’t get much more special than a truffle festival, like the one we just visited in Gubbio, a hilltop town in Umbria.

Truffles at the festival in Gubbio. Wow!

Truffles, known as tartufi in Italian, are mushrooms so rare and unique-tasting, they’re a delicacy that can set you back hundreds of euros per kilo. Of the two kinds, white truffles and black truffles, white are considered the finer delicacy. Right now is the season for white truffles. In the winter, black truffles—and black truffle festivals—will start popping up.

You don’t have to be a foodie, or even like truffles, to enjoy a festival like this one. First of all, they’re usually free to enter. You can wander among the stalls, tasting everything in sight. Or at tasting events, you can pay a nominal fee, like 5 euros, to get a plate of various meats, cheeses and other local delicacies. Whether you buy anything is completely up to you.

Tasting Sicilian specialties at the Gubbio festival

Along with whatever food they’re officially celebrating, most sagre also have other local foods on offer; the Gubbio festival was no different. A number of locations had tent after tent of non-truffled specialty products, from taralli from Puglia to specialty cheeses from northern Italy. Compared to what they’d be in an Italian market—and definitely to any import food shop back in the States—the prices were great. And, of course, seller after seller enticed customers by offering tastes and samples, meaning that a stroll through a tented area practically provided a meal.

Then, of course, there were the tartufi tents. Walking in, we were bowled over by the overpowering, earthy smell of so much truffle in one place. And, while we couldn’t shell out 500 euros for some of the nicer truffles, there was something for every price range, from smaller, uglier truffles that were a fraction of the cost, to truffled sauces, honeys, pates, and even a truffle-and-gorgonzola mix, for 5 euros and up.

Gubbio, just another one of Umbria’s lovely small towns

There’s nothing like tasting Italy’s traditional foods and buying it right from the hands of the farmers and artisans who produce it. Nor is there a much more “authentic” experience than doing so among so many Italian families and shoppers, many of whom also came from nearby towns and cities just to get some specialty shopping done. And since most of these sagre are in gorgeous, off-the-beaten-path towns, they’re also a fantastic opportunity to see a new place in Italy.

The kick-off truffle festival in Gubbio may have ended, but if you want to visit a truffle festival, you have lots of other options! They include:

Still in Gubbio, the festival continues with “Il Mese del Tartufo” (the Month of the Truffle) from November 1st until December 10th, with events centering around different truffle-related products and other Umbrian specialties.

Until Nov. 13, there are continued events at the granddaddy of all Italy white truffle festivals, the International White Truffle Festival of Alba.

From Nov. 4-Nov. 6, Umbria’s Città di Castello hosts the Mostra Mercato Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco.

On Nov. 5-6 and 12-13, there’s the “Tartufesta” in Carbonara di Po (an hour from Ferrara or Verona), including tastings of such Mantuan delicacies as risotto with truffle, pumpkin tortellini with truffle, and truffled carpaccio.

Want to indulge on a plate like this… without paying an arm and a leg? Then get yourself to one of Italy’s many truffle festivals

On the last two weekends of November (Nov. 19-20 and 26-27), the 3rd Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco di Campoli Appennino takes place just 50 minutes from Rome in Campoli. Those two weekends also see the Mostra Mercato Nazionale del Tartufo di Valtopina in the Umbrian town of Valtopina, near Assisi and Perugia.

On Nov. 27 in Casteggio, an hour’s drive from Milan, is the 27th Edizione della Fiera del Tartufo e Miele (festival of truffles and honey).

From Nov. 25-27, Muzzana del Turgnano, near Udine, hosts the Fiera del Tartufo Bianco Pregiato a Muzzana.

From Dec. 7-8, the town of Sigillo near Perugia, Umbria hosts a Mostra Mercato del Tartufo Bianco.

For a more complete list of different (not necessarily truffle) sagre and fiere taking place across Italy, check out the sites Sagre e Ditorni and Sagre in Italia.