The 96th Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba runs from 10 October to 6 December 2026. Nine weekends. One market, one auction, and a price per hundred grams that last year climbed from 400 to 500 euros in three weeks. This is the calendar, the price history, the restaurants that build a menu around the truffle and the hotels within reach of the market, so that the trip can be booked now, before the first frost and the first serious crop. The good tables go early.
The fair: nine weekends and a 6-euro ticket
The fair’s theme this year is Autentiche Relazioni, authentic relationships, and its centre is the Mercato Mondiale del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba in the Cortile della Maddalena, entered from Piazza Falcone. The market opens every Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 to 19:30, with last entry at 19:00. Admission is 6 euros. Inside, the trifolao sell their own truffles at a table, each one weighed, graded and sold with a receipt, which is the safest way for a visitor to buy, because the fair’s quality commission inspects the truffles before they reach the counter. The official programme adds cooking shows, tastings and the events the town has built around the fair for nearly a century.
What 100 grams cost last year, week by week
The reference price is the Borsino del Tartufo, the weekly quotation published by the Centro Nazionale Studi Tartufo in Alba for a white truffle of medium size. In 2025 it opened at 400 euros per 100 grams on 11 October, moved to 450, then 480, and reached 500 euros on 1 November. Three weeks, 25 percent. The 2026 series has not started. Two things move it: the rain of late summer, which decides the size of the crop, and demand, which builds as the season matures. A single truffle of 30 grams, a common size on the market tables, cost 150 euros at last year’s peak rate; a restaurant shaves 8 to 10 grams of it over a plate of tajarin and prices accordingly. That is the number to keep in mind when a menu says “truffle at market price”.
The auction: 8 November at Grinzane Cavour
The Asta Mondiale del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba reaches its 27th edition on Sunday 8 November 2026 at 13:00 in the Castello di Grinzane Cavour, with bidders connected from abroad. It is a charity event. The auction has raised more than 7.2 million euros since 1999. Last year’s edition brought 502,000 euros in the main sale and more than 1.13 million euros in total, and the top lot, a single truffle of 1,009 grams from the Roero, went to a bidder in Hong Kong for 110,000 euros. Nobody eats a truffle at that price. The lot is a donation with a truffle attached, and the figure is what puts Alba on the front page of the food press for a week.
Where to eat: from Piazza Duomo to Priocca
Alba itself has the first table. Piazza Duomo, Enrico Crippa’s three-star restaurant above the square, serves its Alba White Truffle menu of eight courses from 1 October, and the price is not published. The second three-star kitchen of the Langhe is twenty minutes away at Serralunga d’Alba: La Rei Natura, inside Il Boscareto Resort, where Michelangelo Mammoliti received the third star in the 2026 Guida Michelin. Then the hills. At Treiso, Maurilio Garola’s La Ciau del Tornavento holds one star, keeps 65,000 bottles in the cellar and prices its menus at 130 to 140 euros before the truffle is added. Massimo Camia cooks in Novello, at Località Fornaci 17, with one star. Guido da Costigliole, the Alciati family restaurant since 1961, now inside the Relais San Maurizio under chef Fabio Sgrò, lists menus at 150 euros. Il Centro at Priocca, run by the Cordero family since 1956 with Elide Mollo in the kitchen, prints the simplest line of all: the truffle is priced according to the market.
| Restaurant | Where | Chef | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piazza Duomo | Alba | Enrico Crippa | 3 stars, 8-course truffle menu from 1 October |
| La Rei Natura | Serralunga d’Alba | Michelangelo Mammoliti | 3 stars in the 2026 guide |
| La Ciau del Tornavento | Treiso | Maurilio Garola | 1 star, menus 130 to 140 euros |
| Massimo Camia | Novello | Massimo Camia | 1 star |
| Guido da Costigliole | Santo Stefano Belbo | Fabio Sgrò | Alciati family since 1961, menus 150 euros |
| Il Centro | Priocca | Elide Mollo | Cordero family since 1956 |
Where to sleep: six hotels within the truffle circuit
The Langhe hotels have learned to sell the season. Most of the good ones now organise a hunt. Casa di Langa at Cerretto Langhe has 39 rooms, the restaurant Fàula under Francesco Clerico, and a truffle hunt on its own 42-hectare estate. Il Boscareto Resort at Serralunga has 49 rooms and La Rei Natura downstairs. That settles dinner. The Relais San Maurizio, a monastery of 1619 above Santo Stefano Belbo about 25 kilometres from Alba, has Guido da Costigliole under its roof. Villa d’Amelia at Benevello, 38 rooms and the restaurant DaMà, is twenty minutes from the market. Castello di Guarene, a Relais & Châteaux with 12 rooms in an 18th-century castle on the Roero side, runs truffle hunting in October and November. And Borgo Monchiero, the former santuario of 1752 that joined Autentico Hotels in July, is the choice for a quieter week; we described it in our guide to the house and its atmosphere.
Hunting with a trifolao
The hunt is the part of the trip that people remember. It is also cheaper than the dinner. BeCountry runs a two-hour hunt with a trifolao and his dog at Monforte d’Alba for 50 euros a person. The big booking platforms list similar outings from around 92 dollars. The hotels charge more and include transport, a tasting and usually breakfast with the truffle you found. Go at dawn or at dusk, when the dogs work best. Wear boots. Ask in advance whether what the dog finds stays with the trifolao, which is the usual arrangement.
The Luxury.it perspective
Alba in truffle season is the best-value luxury weekend in northern Italy. The numbers explain why. A 6-euro ticket to the market, a 50-euro hunt, a 150-euro menu at one of the most respected family restaurants in Piedmont, and a truffle at 500 euros per 100 grams that a kitchen shaves at 8 to 10 grams a plate. The expensive part is the timing. The first weekends in October are green and cheap and the truffles are small; the last two weekends of November are cold, the crop is at its best and the hotels are full. Book the second half of October. Ask the hotel to hold a hunt for the first morning, and put Piazza Duomo or La Rei Natura on the Saturday night, because both need weeks of notice in season. The auction on 8 November is worth a detour for anyone already in the hills that weekend, and not, on its own, a reason to travel: the room is small, the bidding is fast, and last year’s top lot left for Hong Kong before dinner.
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