San Miniato – white truffle town, stronghold of the emperors, little homeland of Napoleon.
In contrast to other cities in Tuscany, the medieval town of San Miniato, standing on the old road to Florence, thirty kilometers from Pisa, can not boast its ancient Etruscan or Roman origins. On top of the hill on which the city was later erected, in 713 the Lombards, strangers from the north, first settled, who in the same year built a church dedicated to the first Florentine saint, San Miniato (St. Minias). During the Middle Ages, San Miniato, thanks to its geographical position, became the most important stronghold of imperial power in Tuscany.
In the XIII century the German Emperor Frederick II built here his castle, which is partly preserved to this day. The main construction of the castle was the high watchtower, which allowed to control two trade arteries at once: the Franconian road (Via Franchigena), leading from Northern Europe to Rome, and the road connecting Pisa with Florence. The locals claim that from the top of Frederick’s Tower in good weather you can see all of Italy from west to east, from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic.
It is difficult to trust this statement, because the tower, although standing on a hilltop, is still much lower than the Apennine mountains that divide Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, but it does offer a spectacular view. In the middle of the XIV century, San Miniato captured Florence, which greatly simplified the subsequent conquest of Pisa by the Florentine troops. In 1527, along with the soldiers of Charles V, who had sacked Rome not long before, San Miniato was taken over by a plague that killed almost the entire population of the city. The city was soon repopulated by Florentines. Among those settlers from Florence came the Buonaparte family, one of whose descendants was Napoleon Bonaparte, who repeatedly visited his small motherland in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Truffle hunting all year round.
For centuries one of the most respected professions in San Miniato has been that of a “tartfuaio” – truffle hunter. It is no coincidence that a local resident Arturo Gallerini managed to find in the local forests the largest Tuber magnatum pico found on the planet – the White Truffle. Nowadays anyone can try their luck in the truffle search – visitors to San Miniato can, at any time of year, in the company of the local tartufaio and his dogs, head into the surrounding woods, or even (for an extra fee) into the same legendary forest where the record-breaking truffle was found. It’s not certain you’ll find another record truffle, but it’s rare to come back empty-handed.
The white truffle capital.
In the mass consciousness the glory of the main truffle region of Italy is held by Piedmont. This stereotype is wrong, however, because the official status of the “world truffle champion” for the past half century is officially held by Tuscany. The fact is that the record noble white truffle (the most valuable type of truffle) weighing 2540 grams was found on October 26, 1954 by a local man Arturo Gallerini near the Tuscan town San Miniato, halfway between Pisa and Florence.
This record is still unbeaten, which is why we must consider San Miniato to be the truffle capital of Italy and of the world in general. Every fall, San Miniato hosts Tuscany’s main “truffle festival”: on the last three weekends of November, the National White Truffle Fair takes place in the center of San Miniato. During these days the streets and squares of the town are transformed into a “laboratory of taste”, where hundreds of exhibitors present their gastronomic treasures. The main character of the exhibition is always the white truffle itself and its culinary variations such as olive oil, cheeses, pates, smoked meats, sweets and a countless number of hot dishes served in local inns and restaurants.
After the mushroom hunt, participants are invited to try fresh truffle dishes, or even pre-cook them themselves in a cooking class on truffle cuisine. The noble white truffle in Tuscany is usually harvested in October-November, but apart from the white truffle there are at least five other precious species of edible truffles which ripen at different times of the year, so all year round we harvest truffles here. We will tell you more about each of the six seasonal species of Tuscan truffles below.
6 types of truffles
The noble white truffle (Tartufo bianco pregiato, Tuber Magnatum Pico) is considered the most valuable of all edible truffle species and is of commercial importance. Because it grows abundantly in Piedmont, it is also called “Piedmont truffle” or “truffle of Alba”. The weight of a white truffle can vary from a few grams to a kilogram or more. It has a rounded “potato” shape and a beige, ochre-yellow or olive color, depending on the place of collection and degree of maturity. The outside surface is smooth and slightly velvety, while the inside (gleba) is beige or yellow-grey, with fine white streaks. The aroma of white truffle is the strongest, richest and brightest among all truffle species, which makes white truffle unique and the most valuable among them. White truffles can only be eaten raw, they must not be heat-treated, they must be cut with a suitable tool, and it is also recommended not to wash white truffles, but to brush them with a special brush. White truffles grow in cool areas of deciduous forests near lindens, oaks, willows and poplars in marly and clayey soils and also in sandy soils. The soil should be soft and moist for most of the year, rich in calcium, and well ventilated. The ripening period for white truffle is from September through December, but the harvest peak is October-November.The noble black truffle (Tartufo nero pregiato, Tuber Melanosporum Vitt) has a rounded, uniform shape with a non-smooth, uniformly “warty” surface, and its size ranges from the size of a hazelnut to a tennis ball. Noble black truffle is the most common type of truffle in the world (apart from Italy, it is harvested by France, Spain, Bulgaria, Portugal and Croatia). The flesh is hard gray, pinkish-brown or dark brown to black and purple with a white marbled pattern on the cut. Its aroma is very strong and it has a pleasant, bitter taste. The noble black truffle grows in hilly and mountainous areas in symbiosis with oak, English oak and hazel. Commercially it is considered the most valuable after the white truffle. The ripening and harvesting period of the noble black truffle lasts from mid-November until February-March.
The black winter truffle (Tartufo nero Invernale, Tuber Brumale Vitt) is often confused with the noble black truffle because it has the same habitat and lives in symbiosis with plants of the same type. The weight of an adult mushroom can exceed one kilogram. The black winter truffle has a brownish-black slightly warty surface. The flesh is dark with numerous white or yellowish streaks. Its commercial value is on average twice that of the noble black truffle. The aroma of the black winter truffle is dominated by nutmeg tones. The black winter truffle’s maturation period lasts from January to April.
The summer truffle – Scorzone (Tuber Aestivum Vitt) resembles the noble black truffle, but can reach a much larger size. Scorzone is the most harvested truffle in Italy, but it is widespread throughout Europe, including Russia, where it is known as the “black Russian truffle”. The surface of the truffle is covered with black pyramidal warts and has a brownish-black or bluish-black color. The flesh is very dense in young mushrooms (but with older mushrooms becomes friable), the color varies with age from whitish to brownish-yellow and gray-brown with light “marbled” veins. The flavor of the pulp is nutty and sweet, and the mushroom has a pleasant and intense “mushroom” aroma with touches of nut and even algae. Scorzone grows in clayey and sandy soils in broad-leaved forests usually under the roots of oak, beech, hornbeam and birch. The ripening and harvesting period for scorzonet is usually between May and December.
Marzuolo or Bianchetto truffle (Tartufo Marzuolo Bianchetto, Tuber Borchii Vitt) is traditionally common and popular in the Italian regions of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and the Marche. Its appearance is similar to that of the noble white truffle, but bianchetto has much less commercial value, the size of the truffle is also small – from hazelnut to tennis ball. Bianchetto has a rounded shape and its surface coloring can be beige, ochre, yellow, olive, or reddish brown, depending on where it is harvested. The flesh (gleba) may be beige or whitish-pink in color. Despite its outward resemblance to the white truffle, the aroma of bianchetto is much poorer, with a garlic-like odor that remains dominant. The ripening and harvesting period for bianchetto is from January to April.