So precious are the gnarly little lumps of fungus found in the Langhe Hills around Alba, Italy, they are known as white diamonds. The Alba white truffle is the king of truffle-dom, the most fragrant, most delicious and most prized by chefs, who pay thousands of dollars a pound for enough to shave in parchment-thin shards over a signature dish.

Even among other Italian white truffles, those grown in the oak, hazel and beech forests around Alba are the most sought after, so October’s Fiera Internazionale Tartufo Bianco proves a magnet for chefs, connoisseurs and fine food merchants — and travelers — from all over the world. Plan on attending this year’s White Truffle Fair Oct. 11–Nov. 15.

In late October, life throughout the Langhe Hills revolves around these precious fungi, but the nerve center of excitement lies in Alba’s medieval heart, where the truffle market fills a giant tent in the arcaded Cortile della Maddalena. Inside stretches a galaxy of treats for the senses. The heady, earthy perfume of truffles fills the air, mingled with wafts of spiced cakes, peppery salami and mountain cheeses stacked in colorful stalls.

A truffle expert sniffing the quality of Alba truffles © Barbara Radcliffe Rogers

Vendors with voices worthy of La Scala urge attendees to sample the finest of the Piedmont’s rich assortment of local delicacies — cakes bursting with hazelnuts from Cortemilia, dark chocolate studded with more hazelnuts, tangy Toma cheese from the Savoy Alps, Gorgonzola, chewy honey nougat from Turin. Butchers in white aprons tempt with thin slivers of prosciutto from nearby Bra, famous for cured meats.

But the main event lies further on, past this gauntlet of gustatory temptations. In the center of the tent reside the trifolai, the truffle hunters, dressed in country clothes and studiedly looking the part of rustic woodsmen. In front of each sits a pile of rough, earth-colored lumps, unimpressive to look at but giving off a divine fragrance.

Chefs and traders sniff, talk and bargain with the trifolai in a boisterous cacophony, while around the central trading area more vendors sell truffle oils, salts, pastas and other truffly delicacies. At the rear wall, people stand around tables savoring plates of still-sizzling fried eggs. It’s no ordinary breakfast, however — the eggs are topped with generous shavings of “white diamonds” and accompanied by a glass of Barolo, the Piedmont’s most famous wine.

Elsewhere in town, the festival brings medieval pageants, a traditional donkey race, a truffle bacchanal, a medieval market and chef demonstrations. Throughout the region, gourmands can find other pleasures. They can accompany a trifolao and his dog to hunt truffles in the autumn woods, taste wines in hilltop villages still busy with the grape harvest, follow the Honey Trail to sample dark chestnut honeys and dine in restaurants where chefs make the most of the Piedmont’s abundant harvest.