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Truffle Course

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Dates to suit your availability
October–December for white truffles |January–March for marzuolo (cousin of white truffle) | April–September for scorzone (black summer truffle)

This course for food professionals and keen foodies covers theoretical and practical elements of hunting for and cooking with truffles. You’ll learn about the different types and the life cycle of truffles, see how Riccardo trains young dogs and join Riccardo and his dog Turbo on a truffle hunt. In a cooking lesson, you’ll find out how the different truffles are used in typical Italian cuisine and will cook a meal based on truffles. You’ll find out what to look for in a good truffle and, importantly, what truffle products to avoid.


​Course at a glance – February


Friday

Arrival at Pisa airport or Pisa train station no later than 2.45 pm (one transfer to hotel, San Giuliano Terme, will be provided at 2.45 pm)

Session 1: Introduction to course with Riccardo

Welcome dinner at Riccardo’s family home

Saturday

Session 2: Life cycle of truffles and where they are found

Session 3: Demonstration of training a truffle hound

Lunch

Session 4: Hunt for marzuolo truffles (Tuber borchii), delicious close cousins of the white truffle

Dinner at 17th-century villa

Sunday

Session 5: Cooking with truffles: how to clean truffles, how different truffles are used in Italian cuisine, what to avoid

Session 6: Hands-on cooking lesson preparing typical truffle dishes with Riccardo’s wife Amanda

Lunch: the truffle dishes you cooked

Carnival at Viareggio: world famous procession of floats

Traditional fisherman’s dinner at private home

Monday

Depart (one transfer from hotel will be provided after 7:00 am)


Course at a glance – October & November

Friday

Arrival at Pisa airport or Pisa train station no later than 2.45 pm (one transfer to agriturismo, San Miniato, will be provided at 2.45 pm)

Session 1: Introduction to course with Riccardo

Welcome dinner at Riccardo’s home

Saturday

Session 2: Life cycle of truffles and where they are found

Session 3: Demonstration of training a truffle hound

Lunch

Session 4: Hunt for white truffles (Tuber magnatum) in woods near San Miniato

Dinner at quirky rustic restaurant

Sunday

Session 5: Visit National Truffle Fair at San Miniato

Truffle lunch at San Miniato

Session 6: Cooking with truffles: how to clean truffles, how different truffles are used in Italian cuisine, imitation truffle flavouring

Session 7: Hands-on cooking lesson preparing typical truffle dishes with Riccardo’s wife Amanda

Dinner: Truffle dishes you cooked

Monday

Depart (one transfer from agriturismo will be provided after 7:00 am)

​Click on tabs below for more information
To request a booking form email info@sapori-e-saperi.com
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February

Friday

Arrive Pisa airport or train station and transfer to hotel. One pick-up no later than 14.45
Transfer to Riccardo’s family home in the Pisan Mountains above the Serchio River Valley

Session 1: Introduction to the course with Riccardo

Aperitivi

Welcome dinner
Riccardo’s father Salvatore, a retired chef, cooks dinner for us. His home-cured prosciutto will be on the menu, and the meal will be rounded off by Riccardo’s vin santo, made by the traditional Tuscan small-barrel method and aged for at least 5 years.

Saturday

Breakfast and transfer to Riccardo’s home

Session 2: The natural history of truffles
  • What are truffles?
  • How they live and reproduce
  • Where they are found
  • How to find them

Session 3: Truffle hounds
  • The best breeds
  • Motivation
  • Training
  • Maintaining the man-dog-truffle relationship
  • Demonstration of training

Lunch at Riccardo’s home

Session 4: Truffle hunt with Riccardo and Turbo in pine plantation for marzuolo truffle (Tuber borchii)

Dinner in the frescoed dining room of Villa Poschi
Originally the country home of a 17th-century noble family of Pisa. You can almost feel their benign ghosts looking on approvingly as Stefano, the chef, and his wife and daughter serve us a traditional Pisan meal.

Sunday

Breakfast and transfer to Riccardo’s home

Session 5: Principles of cooking with truffles
  • Buying truffles
  • How to identify a good truffle
  • What truffle products to beware of
  • How to store truffles
  • Food and truffle pairing
  • Truffle and wine pairing

Session 6: Hands-on cooking lesson led by Riccardo’s wife Amanda
  • Cleaning truffles
  • Preparing the truffle dishes and the rest of the meal

Lunch: Truffle heaven

Transfer to Viareggio

Carnival parade along the seafront
You can buy a mask or wig and mingle with the high-spirited crowd enjoying the towering floats, many of them witty political satires.

Farewell dinner
Gabriella Lazzarini has invited us to her home for dinner. Seafood is her great love. She buys from family fishermen who sell their catches at the molo in Viareggio (no endangered species here).

Monday

Transfer to Pisa airport or Pisa train station


October & November

Friday

Arrive Pisa airport or train station and transfer to agriturismo. One pick-up no later than 14.45

Transfer to Riccardo’s home near San Miniato, the hilly area where both the heaviest and most expensive white truffles have been found

Session 1: Introduction to the course with Riccardo

Aperitivi

Welcome dinner
Riccardo’s father Salvatore, a retired chef, cooks dinner for us. His home-cured prosciutto will be on the menu, and the meal will be rounded off by Riccardo’s vin santo, made by the traditional Tuscan small-barrel method and aged for at least 5 years.

Saturday

Breakfast and transfer to Riccardo’s home

Session 2: The natural history of truffles
  • What are truffles?
  • How they live and reproduce
  • Where they are found
  • How to find them

Session 3: Truffle hounds
  • The best breeds
  • Motivation
  • Training
  • Maintaining the man-dog-truffle relationship
  • Demonstration of training

Lunch at Riccardo’s home

Session 4: Truffle hunt with Riccardo and Turbo in San Miniato hills for white truffles (Tuber magnatum)

Dinner Osteria del Norcino
A norcino is a pork butcher and tonight we are treated to the cured pork specialities of the Marianelli family, perfected over five generations. Despite being in a 15th-century palace, the atmosphere is informal and if we’re lucky, some musicians of the town might serenade us with old Tuscan songs.

Sunday

Breakfast and transfer to San Miniato

Session 5: Visit to National White Truffle Fair
(2nd, 3rd & 4th weekends in November; in October we visit smaller truffle fairs in villages near San Miniato)
During the annual truffle fair the whole town of San Miniato becomes a showcase for fine foods, displayed in exuberant street stalls. The protagonist is the precious white truffle, but San Miniato boasts other gastronomic delights, including its own variety of olive oil. As you wander through the ancient streets and porticos, you can watch truffle buyers (perhaps from Alba?) interminably brushing, inspecting and sniffing the specimens without a single telltale flicker of emotion.

Lunch at a popular restaurant in the town

Transfer to Riccardo’s home

Session 6: Principles of cooking with truffles
  • Buying truffles
  • How to identify a good truffle
  • What truffle products to beware of
  • How to store truffles
  • Food and truffle pairing
  • Truffle and wine pairing

​Session 7: Hands-on cooking lesson led by Riccardo’s wife Amanda
  • Cleaning truffles
  • Preparing the truffle dishes and the rest of the meal

Farewell dinner: Truffle heaven

Monday

Transfer to Pisa airport or Pisa train station

​To request a booking form email info@sapori-e-saperi.com
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Course Leader

Riccardo Nicosia

Riccardo is an amateur truffle hunter who devotes much of his spare time to truffles. When he’s not out searching for them in the hills of San Miniato, he’s studying Google Earth and large-scale topography maps looking for likely new sites where they might be found. He has long been interested in botany, mycology and dog training. By now he has built up an enormous body of knowledge which he enjoys sharing with truffle lovers and aspiring truffle hunters through his dog training and truffle hunting courses. Given that his father is a retired chef, Riccardo’s interest in truffles doesn’t stop with the hunt. He and his wife Amanda are experts on the preparation of classic truffle dishes, the pairing of wines with truffles and good food in general.
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Course Organiser

Erica Jarman

Following Heather’s careers as archaeologist, orchestra and artist manager and chef, she Italianised her name to Erica and came to Lucca to pursue her passion for traditional artisan food. Her tours, inspired by her infectious curiosity, open captivating new worlds to her guests.​
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Locanda Sant'Agata (February)

An elegantly restored farmhouse on the Pisa plain with views of the Pisan Mountains and the spa town of San Giuliano Terme. You receive a warm welcome from the Micheletti family. Bar and restaurant on site.
www.locandasantagata.it
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​Ca' Solare


Perched on a hilltop, Ca’ Solare overlooks the countryside rich in the white truffles that are the subject of our course. The building is a classic Tuscan farmhouse and has been completely restored for your comfort.
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Price

Per person: 1180 Euros (minimum 4 people)
Non-participant in same room: 350 Euros

Includes

3 nights welcoming, relaxing accommodation, en suite bathrooms

Local ground transportation for 4 days

Daily continental breakfast, 2 lunches, 3 dinners

Course lectures and sessions with truffle hunter, course notes

Cooking lesson with experienced truffle cook

Entrance to Carnival parade (February course)

Does not include

Airfares

Travel and cancellation insurance

Wine and drinks other than those served with meals, additional meals

Personal expenses such as telephone, mini-bar, etc.


Meeting points

Where: Pisa airport, Pisa Centrale train station
When: not later than 14.30

Recommended international travel

Nearest airport: Pisa

Airlines from UK: British Airways, EasyJet, Ryanair

Airlines from other countries: You may have to fly to another European city and take a connecting flight or train to Pisa Centrale. There are good low-cost flights from many European cities. There are better train connections from Roma Termini (about 3.5 hrs) than from Milan.
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If you need to travel at another time, a taxi can be arranged at your own expense.


Departure points

Where: Pisa airport, Pisa Centrale train station
When: no earlier than 10.00

If you need to travel at another time, a taxi can be arranged at your own expense.


Dress

Informal. Jeans are acceptable everywhere. Good walking shoes and rain gear required.


Weather in February

3–12˚C/37–54˚F, precipitation 67 mm/2.7 in

Weather in November

6–15˚C/43–59˚F, precipitation 122 mm/4.8 in

Itinerary is subject to change if necessary due to weather or agricultural conditions or other events outside our control.

​To request a booking form email info@sapori-e-saperi.com
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  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Resources
  • Tours
    • Small Group Tours >
      • Celebrating Sardinia
      • Tuscan Heritage
      • Giants of Sardinia
      • Autumn in Tuscany
      • Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool
      • Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread
      • Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For
      • Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia
    • Tastes and Textiles
    • Day Adventures
  • Courses
    • Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany
    • Advanced Salumi Course Bologna-Parma
    • Art & Science of Gelato
    • Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese
    • Mozzarella & its Cousins
    • Olive Oil Tree to Table
    • Truffle Course
  • Booking
    • Enquiry
    • Booking Conditions
  • What people say
  • Gallery
  • Blogs
  • Contact