The Truffle Festival in Alba

My bucket list is not long. I have had many adventures and feel like I have ticked off most things on it. But the Truffle Festival in Alba, Italy was yet to be checked off. When I realized I would be in Italy at the same time as the festival, you better believe I was going to make my way 2.5 hours from our house and wind my way through the scenic Piedmont region to finally make it to the land of truffles.With my partner in crime in tow, my dear friend Susan, we loaded ourselves into my tiny Fiat 500, and I made our way up up up the mountains and vineyards to the city of Alba.The Festival is, well, a real festival held in an events venue filled with like-minded truffle lovers. Once we found the venue hidden behind two very large wooden doors, the perfumed air hit us like a ton of bricks.White truffles are the holy grail, and this festival featured all sizes and shapes. Truffles, fresh and dried, stuffed in risotto rice, cheese, pasta, and oil, even potato chips---every configuration you can imagine. Of course with Truffles there must be wine. After all, we were in one of the most famous wine regions of Italy. We tasted wine, sampled cheese, and had a lovely pasta with Ragu accompanied by a robust Barolo.For a foodie like myself, it was pretty much a heavenly afternoon. We stuffed ourselves and bought truffles and truffle products, and stopped to buy some wine at a local co-op.We made our way back to the seaside pretty much satisfied with one more thing ticked off the bucket list. If you are in the area in October, I highly recommend you stop and smell the truffles.Stayed tuned for Italian House hunting adventures in the next few weeks...ciao xx Photo credit: Me