Truffle fairs in Monferrato 2026: dates and truffle hunts

The white truffle, Tuber magnatum Pico, is dug in these hills from autumn into winter, and from October to mid-December the towns take turns holding a fair for it. Most share the same core: a morning market where the trifolau, the truffle hunters, sell their truffles, a competition for the best ones judged around midday, and food stands and restaurants cooking with them. Around that, each town adds its own: a saint's-day market, a band, a chef cooking on stage.

In 2026 nine of these fairs, from Montiglio in early October to Asti in December, have joined a single circuit called Terre del Bianco. The list below has those and the other truffle fairs we track, in date order. Where a fair is already over, it's there so you can plan for next year.

Two buying tips. At Murisengo every truffle on the stalls is checked first by judges from the Centro Nazionale Studi Tartufo of Alba and sold in a numbered bag, and you can have what you bought checked free at the central desk. At any fair, come in the morning, when the best truffles are still on the tables.

Already this season

• Sundays 4 and 11 October, Montiglio Monferrato. The Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo di Montiglio opened the season, as it does every year, with historic trains from Turin and Asti on both Sundays.
• Sunday 18 October, Moncalvo. The first day of the Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo di Moncalvo, with the Tartufo d'Oro awarded at noon. Two more days follow, below.
• Earlier in the year: Murisengo's black-truffle fair, Trifola nOiR, over the first two weekends of June, and Cortazzone's Sagra della Tagliatella al Tartufo in late August.

Still to come

• Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, Moncalvo. The rest of the Moncalvo fair, its 72nd edition. Saturday is a food and produce market under the porticoes from 10:00, with live music from 16:00. On Sunday the truffle market opens at 9:00, the Zappino d'Argento is awarded at noon, and at 14:30 Gabriele Boffa, the two-Michelin-star chef of the Locanda Enrico Bartolini at Relais Sant'Uffizio, cooks on stage. Guided white-truffle hunts run over the weekend with the local truffle hunters' association.
• Sunday 1 November, Nizza Monferrato. The Fiera di San Carlo, Nizza's patronal fair, is the town's regional truffle fair and a day for the cardo gobbo, the local cardoon. The detailed programme isn't out yet.
• Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November, Montechiaro d'Asti. The 37th National White Truffle Fair of Monferrato, part of the circuit. It isn't on our pages yet.
• Sunday 8 November, Canelli. The Fiera del Tartufo e Fiera di San Martino, 9:00 to 20:00, pairs the truffle fair with the San Martino market of more than a hundred stalls through the town.
• Sundays 15 and 22 November, Murisengo. The Trifola d'Or, held every November since 1967 and this year an international fair for the first time. It runs 8:00 to 18:00 both Sundays in the village below the castle, with more than a hundred food, wine and craft stalls, guided walks into the truffle grounds in the afternoon and a free sensory-analysis seminar at 15:00, also in English. Historic LocoMonferrato trains run to Murisengo on both Sundays.
• Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November, Acqui Terme. Acqui & Sapori, the 22nd regional truffle show, in the courtyard of the old Seminario, now the Hotel La Meridiana. Saturday has a bagna cauda challenge and the Christmas lights switch-on at 18:00 in Piazza Italia; on Sunday morning the best truffles compete for the Trifula d'Aich, and in the afternoon the trifolau and their dogs compete in a hunting contest.
• Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December, San Damiano d'Asti. The Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo di San Damiano moves this year from its old early-November slot to December. On Saturday at 19:00 there's a simulated truffle hunt in the truffle grove at San Luigi, leaving from Piazza Libertà. On Sunday the market runs 9:00 to 18:00 in Piazza Libertà and Via Roma, the best truffles are awarded at noon, and the food stands open at 12:30, with wine at the Enoteca Regionale Colline Alfieri.
• Sunday 6 December, Cortazzone. The Fiera Regionale del Tartufo, a small village fair run by the Pro Loco. The programme comes out close to the date.
• Until Sunday 6 December, Alba. Just over the border in the Langhe, the International Alba White Truffle Fair, its 96th edition, has been running since 10 October.
• Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December, Asti. The Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo di Asti closes the circuit, with a truffle market of white truffles certified by the local hunters' association and a market of wine and food from the Langhe, Monferrato and Roero through the old centre. The squares for 2026 are still to be confirmed; in 2025 it was Piazza Alfieri.

Not yet dated: Mombaruzzo's Fiera del Tartufo, a small one-day fair with a truffle walk and a truffle hunt you can book. It was on Sunday 9 November in 2025; the 2026 date hadn't been announced when we checked.

Go on a truffle hunt

A fair shows you the truffle; a hunt shows you how it's found. You go into the woods with a trifolau and a dog, and whether you find anything depends on the weather and on what the ground is giving that week, so count any find as a bonus. These are the hunts we list, all bookable ahead:

• Truffle hunt with a trifulau in Canelli. About three hours in the woods around Canelli with a hunter and his dog, then a tasting of what turned up. From €150 a person, in Italian and English.
• Truffle hunt and wine tasting at Bava, Cocconato. From October to March, a search in the estate's woods with a local trifolau, then the historic cellars and a guided tasting of three Bava wines with whatever truffles you found. About three hours, for 1 to 20 people per booking.
• Truffle hunt with the dogs at Tenuta Ronzano, Costigliole d'Asti. Nicolò, the third generation of truffle hunters in the family, leads most walks, in English or Italian, and there's usually a glass of the estate's Barbera at the end. Bring boots.
• Truffle hunting at Tenuta Montemagno, Montemagno Monferrato. A walk in the woods around the estate with a hunter and dog, from May to November, for couples and small groups. Arrange it ahead with the estate.
• Truffle hunt with Meet Piemonte, Nizza Monferrato. A local trifulau and his trained dog, usually followed by a tasting of truffle products. Book through Tripadvisor or Viator.

If you only have a fair day, Moncalvo, San Damiano and Acqui all put a hunt or a hunting contest on the programme, listed above.