When: 11/09/2010 - 14/11/2010,  
Where: Alba,
National Alba White Truffle Fair
www.fieradeltartufo.org
The truffle fair par excellence, The streets of the town fill with stalls, but the heart of the event is the courtyard where the truffle market is held, and where the "trifolai" sell their own treasures
SUNDAY 3rd of October
Donkey Race
Despite its age - it is 50 years old now - Donkey Race is looking younger and younger. The competition began for fun but soon became a moment of rivalry among Alba districts - the unchanged rivalry that today nourishes a renewed competitive spirit for victory. Donkey Race started for fun to mock Asti, the town that in 1275, on St. Lawrence’s day, patron of Alba, conquered Alba and nearly destroyed it. In order to minimize and to play down the 1275 defeat, Alba decided to mock Asti by creating its own Palio not as an horse race – like Palio in Asti – but as a donkey race. Fun is Palio unique reason – decades of victories and defeats have passed by, still vivid as it had happened today. Some districts have won lots of competitions, others less. Though each year each district strongly want to deserve victory. Palio is on the first Sunday in October – a goliardic moment, crowded with tourists. Palio awards a parade prize as well – over a thousand figurants (noblewomen, knights, soldiers, common people and peasants) in a medieval parade along the historical centre streets surrounded by banners and flags, and accompanied by trumpets and drums to introduce the competition. Who will win? Palio takes place in Piazza Osvaldo Cagnasso at 4:30 p.m. and it is composed of two heats and a final trial. The one-thousand-figurant medieval parade starts at 2:30 p.m. and takes place along the coloured historical streets, decked out in the town district colours. At 10:00 in the morning another rite takes place: town district representatives and jockeys meet in piazza Risorgimento for the assignment of donkeys participating to the competition. Awaiting for the donkey race, another competition will take place - Chicken Race, a race organized by the local tourist board from Sanfrè.

The Markets
A variety of markets will take place during the Fair. A long-lasting tradition accompanying the Truffle Fair – its popular side that has recently developed into a rich phantasmagoria of products for all tastes and for expert palates. Do not miss the stands in the historical centre. Visitors may go shopping around the typical and colourful market, among hundreds of sellers and thousands of curios to be found under the market umbrellas and on the overcrowded counters in the streets and squares in Alba, in Piave and Langhe villages, on Sundays, in October. And do not miss «La Natura in piazza» (“Nature on Show”) in piazza Elvio Pertinace – a shot of colours and bygone flavours where visitors can buy certified “green” products and products from organic agriculture. It represents a tradition that refers to the most ancient Langa and Roero and that is linked with rural wisdom and benevolent, harmless past-days witches’ sorcery. Natural products – survived to modernity false myth and nowadays based on scientific techniques – represent a newly strengthened market that brings in important novelties and represents a promising field that clever consumers discover day by day. • Saturday weekly market Historical centre • Itinerant market In areas adjacent to historical centre, on Sundays, in October

Worldwide White Truffle Auction of Grinzane Cavour (Cuneo)
If it is not the most representative event, it is certainly the most glamorous. In the castle where conte Camillo Benso di Cavour once lived, a charity auction is held – it is even broadcast live to the United States by satellite link – during which international stars, from Robert De Niro to Sharon Stone, compete for the largest truffles