Il Tartufo Bianco, Citta di Castello

Il Tartufo Bianco, XXIX Mostra Mercato Nazionale
The rains must have come in the nick of time because there were plenty of truffles to be had at the Citta di Castello truffle festival.

They’ve changed the venue this year, and instead of being set up in two very large tents in the main piazza, the festival was scattered about at different locations around town. One of the best things about the big tents was that as you entered, the scent of truffles would just be overwhelming. This year all the truffles were housed in the large, airy central area of the Plazzo Bufalini and the effect was just not the same. The whole event is now expanded have separate tasting areas for local wines (mostly the guys from Montefalco), the vino novello and the olio novello.  The cheese and salumi guys were behind the Palazzo Vitelli a Sant”Egidio.  It was a grand experiment, but I think the main events, namely the truffles, cheese and salami should go back into the main piazza. We actually needed a color-coded map to find our way around, so it wasn’t the easiest setup.  There are cooking demonstrations going on during the day, and these were called “Showcooking” events. Kind of says it all, don’t you think?

We came home carrying bottles of delicious olive oil that had been pressed last week, a fantastic caciocavallo cheese and a few small white truffles, that we fully intend to devour tonight. The sooner the better with truffles and I have some very freshly laid eggs that are destined for one of the earth’s great flavor marriages. And no, you can’t over for dinner…..we’re fully booked!