Lonely Planet

78 Lonely Planet Traveller October 2017as he walks between vines bunched with purple-blue Sangiovese. The rest of the 32-acre farm isfilled with beehives, hazel trees (‘I tell kids that’sthe Nutella bush’), a herb garden and an enormousvegetable patch, where butterflies and ladybirds areproof of the family’s organic practices. Nicolò picksfigs from a tree and pulls out beetroots for dinner.Back in the kitchen, as his mother transforms thebeets into a filling for her ravioli, Nicolò sets outpiadina flatbread. As he places some local cheeseson another plate – ricotta wrapped in purple boragepetals and a pecorino cheese aged in a walnut leaf –he explains that the further east you go in the region,the flatter the bread. ‘You can talk about differencesbetween Emilia and Romagna,’ he says, ‘but youonly have to move to the next village and there’s acompletely different set of ingredients and recipes.’MILE 145Sant’Agata FeltriaWhat unites Emilia-Romagna is that it’s a regionof industrious farmers, carefully cultivating theirfertile soil, but there’s one local food specialitythat’s all the more exceptional because it can’treadily be reared by human hands. All anyonedoes here is let nature carry out its work.October heralds the start of truffle season inSant’Agata Feltria, a community near Emilia-Romagna’s southeast border. The villagers have allbeen waiting for this moment, among them pizzeria``````owner Sauro Po d’Esta, who heads into the forestwith his six-year-old spaniel, Chicco. ‘The secretbehind truffle hunting,’ he says, ‘is to love your dog.’Chicco scampers over a long grass meadowbejewelled with shimmering dewdrops. Moisture inthe air heightens every woodland smell, but Chiccoknows what he’s after and is soon digging furiouslybeside an oak. He reveals what looks like a burnt,knobbly cedar cone. Sauro recognises it as a blacktruffle and rewards Chicco with a sausage. ‘I used tobring them home for myself. Nowadays, a blacktruffle goes for £300 a kilo, a white one for £1,300,’he says. ‘In a village of 2,000, 500 people now havetruffle licences. The hairdresser, the butcher –everyone tries to find them.’The collective haul is sold during the fair thattakes over every square and alleyway in Sant’Agataeach Sunday in October. Truffle oils, truffle cream,truffle pastas, salami laced with truffles, truffle-flavoured cheeses and baskets bulging with actualtruffles are all to be found here. It’s clear what’s thestar of the show. Their rich, bosky scent fills theentire village and crowds file in from all overEmilia-Romagna – for, unlike other regionaldelicacies that improve with age, this is one bestsampled fresh from the ground.``````PASTA MATHSAccording to tradition,the width of a properlymade ribbon oftagliatelle shouldmeasure exactly a12,270th of the heightof Bologna’s famousTorre degli Asinelli.The red brick Medievaltower stands at 97.2m,equating to an idealpasta width of 8mm.``````GABRIELLE JAFFE finished this trip with a pileof goodies, including a chunk of Parmesanalmost as big as her head.TASTE TOUR ITALIAILLUSTRATIONS: PIMONOVA/ISTOCK/GETTY, ANDRII- OLIINYK/ISTOCK/GETTY,INTUERI/ISTOCK/GETTY, NATA ALHONTESS/SHUTTERSTOCK, FLIPSER/SHUTTERSTOCK