Published on
September 18, 2025
Autumn in Italy is like stepping into a painting, with warm reds, golds, and browns turning every hill into a masterpiece. The lovely scent of earth and a hint of hidden treasure—truffles—fill the chilly air. From the first light of September until the frosty evenings of November, the country hosts truffle festivals.
Cheers of “Eureka!” echo from hillside towns as chefs, food-loving visitors, and truffle dogs unite to honour the season. Between platefuls of creamy risotto and smoky pasta, the countryside offers ancient stories, music, and plenty of laughter. In the rolling green of Piedmont, the gentle curves of Tuscany, the dreamy hills of Umbria, and even sunny Sicily, the moment you reach a village, you scent the stories mixing with steam rising from sizzling pans.
Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d‘Alba—Piedmont (October 11 to December 8, 2025)
High in the dreamy Langhe hills, the small city of Alba is like a crown jewel of Italian truffles. Between October 11 and December 8, 2025, it will sparkle even brighter, with the 95th Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d‘Alba, a grand, shiny celebration that welcomes “truffle pilgrims” from every corner of the globe. The heart of the festival is the Mercato Mondiale del Tartufo, a colourful market where truffle dogs wag excited tails, and proud sellers display gleaming Tuber magnatum pico—the biggest, the whitest, the gold of the earth. Visitors wander past market tables, noses aloft like bloodhounding chefs, marvelling at glistening treasures that whisper, “Taste me in a creamy pasta, and you will never forget me!”
Visitors to the fair are not only treated to a market packed with shiny black pearls, but they also stroll through Alba’s medieval streets, where every stone whispers a story. Costumed townsfolk parade, tossing vibrant cloths like living rainbows, drummers beat a merry echo, and the Palio degli Asini surprises all with its gentle donkeys racing in wobbly, endearing loops. Each joyous bray reminds us that even in a festival dedicated to treasures of the earth, laughter is the real prize. Strolling a few more steps, guests find kitchen stars guiding scrumptious demos, turning humble pasta and eggs into golden masterpieces of truffle speed and sparkle. Watch, taste, and take home the secrets of tossing these fragrant jewels into every dish.
If the eyes and nose crave even more, sign up for a hands-on workshop that’s more like a mini truffle study. Thanks to enthusiastic experts, you’ll discover the dizzying perfume that lingers in every speck of harvested treasure, and you’ll practice the gentle ways to cool and cradle them back home. Hunt, learn, and carry the festival home like a bottled fairy tale; those earth aromas and simple sharing tips keep festival magic alive in every future omelette and risotto—and, with a few humble groceries, in the soul of a simple Tuesday.
Sagra del Tartufo di San Giovanni d’Asso – Tuscany (October 2025)
Heading south into the rolling hills of Tuscany, the Sagra del Tartufo offers another marvellous truffle party. This year, the streets of San Giovanni d’Asso will burst to life each Saturday and Sunday in October 2025, showcasing the village’s much-loved black truffle. A market brimming with the truffle of the day, tastings of specialities sprinkled with its savoury scent, and cheerful cooks demonstrating how to sprinkle, slice, and sauté the truffle in traditional Tuscan pasta, risotto, and bruschetta, will fill the piazza from dawn to dusk.
Beyond the feasting, visitors can join affable locals and their eager dogs for pleasant walks through the soft Tuscany hills in search of the sneakily growing treasure. The breezy, almond-scented countryside, warm terracotta-roofed homes, and ancient hilltop views make this truffle outing the perfect retreat for anyone with a nose for good food and a heart for a good hike.
Tartufo Nero di Norcia – Umbria (November 2025)
Just leave of even breath in from the farmland of Umbria, the Tartufo Nero di Norcia is the truffle festival everyone touted in older guidebooks, and including the festival in this pleasant November 2025 is the real magazine-cover highlight. Hold your nose to Norcia’s black truffle, the plump prize-crusted black oversized and upside-down-coated ones, and then hold a platter of chefs. Guests can nibble from bountiful truffle portions onto to pasta, risotto, glittery crostini, and melted cheese snuggly between dung racks. Truly, the market where villagers work with juicy fungal riches offers shattered, tightly tripped stalls.
Take a walk in the Monti Sibillini National Park on a guided truffle hunt, and the day heats up in the kitchen. You’ll stroll among oak and hazel trees, watch skilled dogs scent the soil, dig up the treasure, then sit down to a mountain meal. Plates gleam with pasta, olive oil, and glorious black and white truffles. Wander over to Norcia afterwards. Its medieval stone streets echo with the sound of sliced prosciutto being prepared and the scent of pecorino being cut. Every stop gives you a taste of the region, and more truffles find their way to the table. Norcia glows with towers, and the flavours grill into your memory.
Sagra del Tartufo di Acqualagna—Marche (October 2025)
When the weather in the Marche cools from March to October, Acqualagna rolls out the Sagra del Tartufo, Italy’s unmissable table of white truffles. Framed by the Apennines, the town lives up to its title— “truffle capital of Italy.” A great market fills the streets with truffle scent, mountains of gleaming treasures, and city chefs dazzling you at open bars of savouring. Classes show you secrets of tagliatelle, sauces, or huevos with truffle drops. Trained dogs lead hikes that have you digging, guided with loving dogs, through golden-leafed woods. Outside, green hills ramble one way and tiny villages glow in a dusky olive glow the other. You can step from kitchen to hillside in a heartbeat, and leave with a box of black and white treasures, ready to share back home.
Fiera del Tartufo Nero di Bagnoli Irpino – Campania (November 2025)
Campania is rolling out the red carpet for the black truffle found only in the rolling hills of Irpinia. Come November 2025, Bagnoli Irpino throws the Fiera del Tartufo Nero di Bagnoli Irpino, a festival that aromas the air with the promise of food, crafts, and cheerful celebrations. Visitors can wander past tables heaped with glistening truffles, join cooking demos led by star chefs, and even buy the pungent fungus directly from the gum-chewing foragers. Beyond the truffles, the marketplace flaunts local treats like deep-berry wines and emerald-hued olive oil, giving every taste bud a warm hug.
After the tastings, head into the stunning Irpinia hills themselves, where neat villages shimmy along mountain ridges and quiet beech forests offer jaw-dropping trails. Bagnoli Irpino is not just the festival hub; it’s the key to quiet, cosy evenings beneath starry, cool skies after an afternoon of feasting.
Conclusion:
Taking a trip to Italy’s fall truffle fests feels like stepping right into a delicious storybook filled with recipes and rustic charm. You can chase gleaming truffles right alongside the dogs in the rolling Piedmont hills at the big-name Alba fair, then feast on what you find moments later. Or cosied in the cobblestone streets of Norcia, the Umbrian town famous for black truffles, you swap plates of truffle risotto with local cheese and freshly pressed olive oil.
From cooking demos to live music and beautiful grapevines all around, each festival delivers a plateful of Italy you won’t find anywhere else. For anyone who dreams of tasting the real Italy—mud and all—these gatherings are the passport you never want to bring home.
