Can you please give me the October dates for this year for the truffle fairs/festivals in Acqualagna and Alba?

There are now three truffle fairs throughout the year in Acqualagna.

The Regional Black Truffle Fair is held around the 20th February, the Regional Summer Truffle fair is held mid August and the most important, the National Truffle Fair, is held for 2 weeks from the end of October.

Amongst the stands of the latter it is possible to taste the local production as well as that from other regions in Italy.

Although dogs are still used to find truffles in the forests and woods of the area, the real commercialization of the product began in 1933 thanks to the work of Doctor Franceso Francolini.

He was the first to dabble in seed propagation and successfully reproduced the plant outside its natural habitat.

Now almost 50% of black truffles are grown in this way.

There are many ways of sampling that distinctive flavor. Among the products to be found near Acqualagna are 'truffle butter', 'truffle sauce', 'truffle and olive oil', 'local cheese with truffles' and the relatively new 'crescia di Pasqua a pannatone', a type of fresh bread with salt, egg and truffle.

We like the 'Maccheroncini di Campofilone' with white truffle.

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