Tuscan Truffle: San Miniato
San Miniato is one of the most productive truffle areas in Europe. The white truffle, with its pale ochre colour, grows in the San Miniato Hills in the most valuable type known.
The heart of the unique San Miniato truffle ground can be found in the Valdegola triangle, a geographical truffle-producing area that extends towards the inland countryside of Pisa.
Not very deep in the ground, a truffle collection is a selective one, because the production is limited to the three months of October, November and December.
For thirty years the Mostra Mercato Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco di San Miniato (The San Miniato National White Truffle Market), has changed the small city during the last three weeks of November into an internationally recognised gastronomic festival.
This rare open-air tasting event also hosts many cultural events in the historical Piazza del Duomo, nearby the Rocca.
Smaller but as well tasty fairs take place in October: the Corazzano Festival is a good example; together with the Balconevisi Festival , an ancient village of the Florentine Strozzi family.
Here the “sagra” is usually held on the 3rd weekend of October, together with the Truffle and Mushroom Fair (Sagra del Tartufo e del Fungo) .
Also Volterra , the famous town of Etruscan art, hosts a truffle fair between the last weekend of October and the first weekend of November.
In March, Cigoli offers the early Marzuolo, thanks to a fair dedicated to this less-quality type of white-truffle.
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