March Truffle Festival in Cigoli, Tuscany

A Yearly Event Celebrating an Early Variety of This Flavorsome Tuber

Mar 15, 2009

Cigoli is a quaint hilltop village near the historic town of San Miniato in central Tuscany, renowned worldwide as one of Italy's leading areas for truffle hunting.

San Miniato hosts a number of unmissable events for truffle lovers, though they are perhaps lesser-known than similar feasts in Alba (in Piedmont) or Norcia (in Umbria), The popular March Truffle Festival in Cigoli, now in its 11th year, kicks off the season.

Cigoli, the Festival Location

Lying in the heart of Tuscany at a distance of about 40 km (25 miles) from either Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Siena, the city of San Miniato is a historic Cathedral See sitting between the Arno, Egola, Elsa and Era valleys along the Francigena way, whose pilgrimage path used to run from Canterbury in England to the Vatican in Rome. On a hill top not far from San Miniato, Cigoli is a small Medieval village whose best known offspring is the painter and architect Ludovico Cardi (1559 - 1613), known as Il Cigoli. Francesco Sforza, a lord of Milan in the 15th century, was also born nearby.

San Miniato, the 'City of Truffles'

The woods in the countryside of San Miniato and its surroundings – including the neighborhoods of Cigoli, Balconevisi and Corazzano – are renowned worldwide for their prized white truffles (known as Tartufo Bianco in Italian, or Tuber Magnatum Pico in Latin) gathered in the Fall between October and December. The largest recorded white truffle ever was found here in 1954, and every year outstanding specimens found in the area are auctioned at several hundred thusand dollars for charity.

Tartufo Marzuolo Festival

From January to April, the area yields the less pricey, but still delicious Tartufo Marzuolo (Tuber Borchii or Tuber Albidum in Latin), so called because the height of its season is March (marzo in Italian). This March Truffle variety is celebrated yearly over a festive weekend in mid March, when the village of Cigoli hosts a gourmet market with stalls and booths selling truffles as well as other local delicacies and crafts. Free tastings are available, as well as a restaurant serving truffle specialties including a much acclaimed pizza with truffle.

The Days of the Truffle Restaurant

This year's Days of the Truffle restaurant menu was entrusted to the culinary creativity of Juri Biligiardi, a talented young chef specializing in truffle based recipes. Juri (sic! that's the Italian spelling for Yuri...) normally delights the taste buds of foodies at the local restaurant Il Convio, which truffle lovers should make sure to visit outside of the Truffle Festival weekend.

Juri Biligiardi's Tartufo Marzuolo Menu

The photos illustrating this article were taken by the Author at the launch of the 11th Tartufo Marzuolo festival on March 6th, 2009. Chef Juri Biligiardi's menu for the event featured:

The meal was served with Ciriè 2007 IGT red wine by the local Santa Barbara vinyards.

The copyright of the article March Truffle Festival in Cigoli, Tuscany in European Culinary Travel is owned by Maddalena Delli. Permission to republish March Truffle Festival in Cigoli, Tuscany in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.