Last updated: October 2026
You smell it before you see it. Walk up into San Miniato on a November weekend and the whole hilltop smells of white truffles: earthy, garlicky, a bit mysterious. It’s one of the great food weekends of the Tuscan year.
San Miniato
San Miniato sits on a long ridge halfway between Pisa and Florence, its tall brick tower (the Rocca, built for Emperor Frederick II) visible for miles. It’s a handsome old town with a cathedral, a big piazza and wide views over the Arno valley. The hills all round it, the colline sanminiatesi, are truffle country.
The truffle fair 2026
The Mostra Mercato Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco delle Colline Sanminiatesi is on the last three weekends of November. In 2026 it’s the 55th fair:
- 14 to 15 November
- 21 to 22 November
- 28 to 29 November
It fills the streets of the old town with truffle sellers, cheese, salami, wine, oil, chestnuts and stalls of every kind. Restaurants put on truffle menus. It’s busy, cheerful and very Italian.
Getting there
- By train: San Miniato-Fucecchio station is on the Florence to Pisa line. From there, bus 320 runs up to Piazza Dante in the old town. Check times on the Autolinee Toscane site.
- By car: during the fair you can’t drive up into the centre. Park below and take the shuttle bus, which runs from Via Francesco Guerazzi up to Piazza Dante.
- From Lucca, Pescia or Pistoia: it’s a car trip, or trains via Pisa or Florence.
Go early in the day. By Sunday afternoon it’s packed.
The truffle seasons
In Tuscany, truffle seasons are set by regional law (from 2023):
| Truffle | Season |
|---|---|
| White truffle (Tuber magnatum) | 1 October to 15 January |
| Black winter truffle (Tuber melanosporum) | 15 November to 15 March |
| Summer truffle (scorzone) | 1 June to 31 August, and 1 October to 30 November |
There’s no truffle hunting at all in May or September.
The white truffle is the prize: pale, knobbly, and intensely perfumed. It can’t be farmed. It grows wild, underground, next to the roots of certain trees, often in damp woods along streams. That’s why it’s so rare, and so expensive.
Going truffle hunting
You can join a tartufaio (truffle hunter) and their dog in the woods. It’s a lovely morning out, even if you don’t find much.
- Truffle hunters need a licence in Tuscany, and they hunt with trained dogs. Not pigs: hunting with pigs has been banned in Italy for decades, because they churn up the ground and damage the truffle beds.
- Book with a licensed hunter or a farm that offers truffle hunts. Many agriturismi in the San Miniato hills do.
- Wear boots and old clothes. The woods are often muddy.
- Choose the season. For white truffles, go between October and the middle of January. Summer hunts are for the black summer truffle.
Watching a dog suddenly get excited, sniff and dig, and the hunter gently easing out a truffle with a little spade, is a joy.
How to eat white truffle
Simply, and never cooked. It’s shaved raw, in thin slices, over hot food at the table:
- Tagliolini or tagliatelle with butter.
- Fried eggs. The best, and the cheapest way to enjoy it.
- Risotto or polenta.
- Carpaccio or a beef tartare.
Black truffles can be cooked gently, in sauces and fillings. White ones, no.
Buying a truffle
- Smell it. It should be strong and pleasant.
- Feel it. It should be firm, not soft or spongy.
- Ask where and when it was found. Good sellers will tell you.
- Eat it soon. A white truffle lasts only a few days. Wrap it in kitchen paper in a jar in the fridge, and change the paper daily.
- Prices change by the day, depending on the weather and the season. Ask first, and don’t be shy about buying a small one.
If you can’t make the fair, November is truffle month all over Tuscany. My sagre month by month has more autumn festas.
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Photo credits: San Miniato on its hilltop (photo: LigaDue, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
