RuvidaMente
THE MANY HOMELANDS
OF THE WHITE TRUFFLE
The Tuber magnatum is found almost exclusively in Italy and everyone knows that Piedmont is the paradise of the white truffle. It grows in the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria and particularly in the areas where great wines are produced, the Langhe, Roero, the Asti district and the Monferrato. The region extends over a wide area, reaching as far as the hills overlooking Turin. However, the recognized capital of the white truffle is not Turin but Alba, whose market serves the same function for the tuber as the London exchange in fixing the prices of precious metals.
The reputation of the white truffle of Piedmont goes back at least to the 18th century and is so strongly established that most people have forgotten or are unaware of the fact that the tuber is also found in many other parts of Italy. A map indicating the places where the tuber is found would show two principal poles, Alba, in Piedmont, and Acqualagna in the Marches. Those are the two major markets toward which truffles found in neighboring regions tend to flow.
The importance of Acqualagna, which is increasing every year, is due to the fact that the Pesaro stretch of the Apennines, between the upper valley of the Foglia and the valleys of
the Metauro and Candigliano, abounds in truffles. The area’s epicenter is at Sant’Angelo in Vado and it is the only district that can challenge Alba’s primacy. Willingly or otherwise, the truffle
hunters of Umbria, who operate in the areas around Gubbio, the Tiber Valley and Città di Castello and who collect Tuber magnatum, must use the Acqualagna market because their area is so closely
linked in image with the black variety of Norcia that it is difficult for them to exploit their white-truffle resources.
Tuscany is the only other truffle-bearing area that has the capacity to produce white truffles in sufficient quantity to put it in the same league as Alba and Acqualagna. Tuscan woods yield an average of about 300 quintals (33 tons) of white truffles annually. According to the Tuscans, their output represents a third of total domestic production and generates turnover of about 30 billion lire ($20 million) annually. However, the areas in which the truffles are found in Tuscany are widely scattered and fragmented so that the region has not succeeded in attracting the attention it deserves at the national level.
Altogether, there are seven truffle areas, of which four are of primary and three of secondary importance. The important areas are the Crete Senesi (the hills around and extending to the south of Siena), the hills around San Miniato between Florence and Pisa (they extend from the Chianti district to Volterra), the Tiber Valley and the Mugello, including the upper valley of the Sieve, southeast of Florence. The three secondary areas are the Basso Casentino in the province of Arezzo, the Sambuca Pistoiese zone in Pistoia province and the Camporgiano district at Lucca.
The regional regulations covering the collecting of truffles have not been able to consolidate the denominations by origin around the two principal zones of the Crete Senesi and San Miniato. As a result, five zones have had to be recognized—the four principal areas plus the Casentino.
However, Tuscan white truffles are gaining on the market through promotion at innumerable fairs, festivals and
exposition-markets and through contests for journalists and other initiatives.
The white truffle of Emilia-Romagna on the far side of the Apennines has not benefited from a concerted publicity campaign. Yet it is a truffle that has every claim to nobility, as evidenced by
the fact that it was the only tuber other than the Piedmontese variety to be cited by Artusi. He said that it was “recognized by all as a premium truffle.”
In addition to those of the Romagna Apennines, white truffles are found at Pontelagoscuro along the old courses of the Po at Ferrara and on the hills outside Parma in Emilia.
Because of the limited quantities found, the white truffles collected in the vicinity of Savona in Liguria are little more than curiosities. Somewhat more generous are the truffle-bearing
districts of Lombardy—the Mantua area and the Valtellina, north of Milan, although output is only just sufficient to meet local demand, as well as the Oltrepò Pavese, south of Pavia, which
produces enough tubers to keep small local markets at Casteggio and Varzi supplied.
The south of Italy may provide some surprises in coming years, since Tuber magnatum is found in Campania and the Abruzzi but especially in Molise. However, Molise has been unable to
exploit the tuber since the locations of producing areas have not been accurately identified. Finds of white truffles are also occasionally reported on Sardinia. Outside Italy, Tuber magnatum is
found only on the Istrian peninsula of former Yugoslavia, the Ticino canton of Switzerland and southern France. While the tuber is relatively abundant in the woods of former Yugoslavia, it is
rather rare in the Swiss region and France.