Alba White Truffle Fair
InexpensiveThe autumn truffle market
On autumn weekends the truffle market fills a hall in Alba with the smell of tuber magnatum; buy a small one and have it shaved over eggs.
AlbaAutumnTruffles
Langhe & Alba, Italy
Ideal: 3 daysBest: Sep–Nov, May–JunPrice: Expensive
In 60 seconds
Langhe & Alba in 60 seconds
The Langhe, south of Turin, are Italy's most serious wine country: steep hills striped with Nebbiolo vines, each topped by a village and a castle, and listed by UNESCO for their vineyard landscape. Barolo and Barbaresco come from here, and so does the white truffle — in autumn Alba, the handsome brick market town at the foot of the hills, holds its truffle fair, and the scent fills the old streets. Drive from Barolo, with its wine museum in the castle, to the belvedere at La Morra, the Sol LeWitt–painted chapel among the vines and the castle at Grinzane Cavour. Lunch is long: tajarin with butter, vitello tonnato, plin ravioli and a bottle that has waited a decade. Three days in October; the rest of the year, quieter and nearly as good.
WineCountrysideUNESCO
Best for
- Food
- Hidden gems
- Luxury
Known for
- Barolo
- White truffles
- Alba
- Hilltop villages
Skip if
You do not drink wine or want to be without a car — the Langhe is about long lunches and winding drives between cellars.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Langhe & Alba fits them. Choose interests
See
Must experience
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
WiMu, Barolo
ModerateWine museum in Barolo's castle
A playful multimedia journey through wine and the Langhe over several floors of the Falletti castle.
BaroloMuseumWine
La Morra belvedere
The view over the Barolo hills
From the square at the top of La Morra the whole Barolo zone lies below you, village by village.
La MorraFreeView
Grinzane Cavour Castle
InexpensiveCastle, regional wine shop and truffle auction
Count Cavour's castle among the vines, with a regional enoteca and the setting of the world white-truffle auction.
Grinzane CavourCastleWine
Eat
Where to eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
More places to eat
Too few picks yet for their own heading, so they share this list.
Osteria dell'Arco
ModerateLanghe classics in Alba
Tajarin in butter, veal braised in Barolo and good value; truffles shaved over everything in season.
AlbaSlow foodTajarin
Piazza Duomo
Very expensiveEnrico Crippa's three-star dining room
Vegetables from the restaurant's own gardens and the Langhe on a tasting menu, in a pink room upstairs on the cathedral square.
AlbaBook aheadTasting menu
Beyond the obvious
Hidden gems
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Barolo Chapel
A chapel painted by Sol LeWitt and David Tremlett
A never-consecrated chapel in the vines, painted in bright blocks of colour in 1999 — loved or hated, never ignored.
La MorraArtFree
Barbaresco
The other great Nebbiolo village
A smaller, quieter village than Barolo, with a tower over the Tanaro and a cooperative cellar to taste in.
BarbarescoVillageWine
Orientation
Neighbourhoods
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
Alba
The brick market town
Medieval towers, the cathedral square and Via Vittorio Emanuele's delis and wine shops.
Stay
Where to stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Hill villages
ExpensiveWine-estate rooms in La Morra, Barolo and Monforte
Wake up above the vines; book well ahead for October weekends.
Car neededViews
Alba
ExpensiveHotels in town
Walk to dinner, and the truffle fair is on your doorstep.
PracticalRestaurants
Practical
Know before you go
- Getting in
- Turin's airport and Turin Porta Nuova station are about an hour away; regional trains reach Alba with changes.
- Getting around
- A car is essential; or hire a driver for a day of tastings.
- Tastings
- Most estates receive visitors by appointment only — book ahead, especially in autumn.
- When to go
- October and November for truffles and the harvest colours; spring for green hills and fewer crowds.
- Taste locally
- Barolo, Barbaresco, Dolcetto and Barbera; white truffle, tajarin, agnolotti del plin, vitello tonnato and hazelnuts.
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
History in 5 minutes
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
- 1800s
Barolo is made as a dry, long-aged wine and becomes the wine of the Savoy court.
- 1928
Alba holds its first truffle fair.
- 2014
The vineyard landscapes of the Langhe-Roero and Monferrato are inscribed by UNESCO.
Further out
Nearby escapes
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Turin
Piedmont's baroque capital
Arcaded streets, the Egyptian Museum and the café culture of bicerin and gianduja.
1 hr by carCityMuseums