Truffles, dogs, and woodland adventures abound in the hills of northern Italy.
If you come to Italy specifically to eat , you likely have some pilgrimage to make . There’sEmilia - Romagnafor those who crave cure meats and high mallow , Naples for the pizza purist . And Piedmont ? Among those who turn over the heady , gross smell of freshly grated truffle with an unwavering veneration , it ’s heaven on Earth .
The region in northerly Italy , particularly the Langhe area in the state of Cuneo , has long been recognized as perhaps the world ’s best hunting priming coat for chocolate truffle . The filth in its rolling hills is racy with limestone and mineral table salt , which bring out both earthnut and vino grapes that are full - bodied and fragrant . Fall in Piedmont is high season for the rare white truffle , and an autumnal visit has been a dream of mine for going on a decade .
EnterCasa di Langa , a sustainable five - star hotel perched in the middle of over 100 acres of working vineyards and private woodlands that are especially fertile for both fatal and blank earth-ball — an ideal scope for thetruffle hunt programthat I came to experience . The hotel has partner with veteran huntsman ( or trifulau)Daniele Stroppiana and Marta Menegaldo ofBianco Tartufi(and their impossibly adorable Lagotto Romagnolo dogs ) to moderate guests on a wild , sometimes mussy romp through the wood to find the elusive edibles .
Dogs sniff out truffles in Langhe, Italy.|Courtesy of Beyond Green
My morning earth-ball hunt started with a paying attention asking for my rain boot size of it , so I could better care any sticky conditions in the mud . Once right attired , my friends and I head out of doors to meet third - genesis hunting watch Stroppiana and his petite pup Bianca . From the hotel ’s vestibule , it was just a few minutes walk to the property ’s individual Sir Henry Wood ; Bianca tore off after a faint whiff of truffle spirit almost directly . We gallop down the Alfred Hawthorne after her , Stroppiana build up with both dog treats and prosciutto as rewards , depending on what variety of earth-ball she found . Later he secernate me that his Lagotto Romagnolos are raised from infancy to love the smell of truffles , which are placed on their female parent ’s mammilla as soon as they begin to nurse . As the puppies get more mobile , they instruct to act hide and try with a full truffle—”Not a white one , though ! ” he condition — receiving a dog treat as a wages for find it under a pile of leaves or outgrowth .
While you may have get word of truffle run pigs , bounder have become more popular in late twelvemonth . “ They have an incredible sense of aroma , they ’re wanton to train , and this strain does n’t have the instinct to follow after hazardous animals , ” Menegaldo explain . Plus , Lagottos ’ curly coating , away from being first-class for snuggle , also keep them affectionate in the fall and wintertime , when earthnut season is in full cut .
But back to the hunting : Bianca shortly start out furiously digging with both front paws , ripping tree etymon out with her teeth , while Stroppiana intermittently grabbed handfuls of the soil to see if he could smell a earthnut . Once it was clear she had found one , we all abound into cheer and clapping . Bianca quickly have a treat which attend to to distract her from feed the truffle itself . I even received the honor of to the full unearth the truffle — a sizable black one — which will go down as one of the most consequential moments of my life .
By the end of the dawn , we were fortunate enough to have recover multiple black and white truffle , and Bianca was gayly stuffed with prosciutto . Because only hotel guests have access to Casa di Langa ’s terra firma , the hit rate is importantly higher than in other share of Langhe , where multiple hunters chicane for potency on the same parcels of land . After the hunt , client have the option to bribe the truffles from the trifulau , and the on - site eating place Fàula Ristorante can then pick them and serve them over whatever you like . We opted to keep some of the black kind and had them served shaved over a tender cut of pork barrel at lunch . look at the absolute majority of all truffles in the US are imported , corrode one that had been harvested just hour before was a Revelation of Saint John the Divine : mushroomy , earthy , and redolent of the stain from which it had come forth .
While a trip to Casa di Langa would be deserving it on the basis of the truffle hunt experience alone , there ’s far more to do on website than just dig for tubers . Unsurprisingly , the hotel ’s wine selection is excellent , and the property even has its ownWine Academyfor those look to go more in - depth about the famed varietal wine found in the surrounding hillsides . Foraspiring alimentary paste Almighty , there are alsocooking classes , which include a visit to the on - land site garden buy in with constitutional fruits , vegetables , and herbs . And so much of the experience of ride out at Casa di Langa is eco - favorable , since the hotel is a penis of theBeyond Greenportfolio , an exclusive group of properties that bind to a strict checklist of over 50 sustainability indicators . The environmental consciousness even extends to theLelòse Spa , which is stocked with locally made Comfort Zone products ( I scoop up a medicine cabinet ’s worth of their hydrating face mask and moisturizers to bring home to the States ) .
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While late fall may be the unspoiled time to visit if you ’re interested in hunting for white truffles , the hotel ’s program is available nearly all twelvemonth , save for the calendar month of May and the first half of September , when no truffles are allowed to be harvest , perthe prescribed truffle calendar . Stroppiana prefers the 2nd half of the year , July to December , but with different variety show issue throughout the seasons , there ’s really no fallow time to confab . Just be prepare for mint of puppy punch — a hardship , to be sure .
Enter Casa di Langa, a sustainable five-star hotel perched in the middle of over 100 acres of working vineyards and private woodlands.|Casa di Langa
From the hotel’s lobby, it was just a short walk to the property’s private woods.|Casa di Langa
Bianca was raised from infancy to love the smell of truffles.|Casa di Langa
By the end of the morning, we were fortunate enough to have found multiple black and white truffles.|Courtesy of Beyond Green
The hotel’s onsite restaurant can clean your truffles and serve them however you’d like.|Casa di Langa
