Adventure travel to Italy
About those wines: It is at the heart of understanding the land of Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, Dolcetto, and Moscato. Wine is its industry and its essence. It even has its own origin myth, albeit a bit tongue in cheek. At the Wine Museum in Barolo (next door to the Corkscrew Museum), a Garden of Eden tableau portrays Eve tempting Adam with a cluster of grapes. And when the locals aren’t talking wine, they’re talking truffles — the fungus, not the chocolate. It’s part of a cultural reverence for the riches that come from the ground. These earthy objects of desire were
once considered the food of the gods for their aphrodisiac powers. These days, they’re the food of the One Percenters, easily fetching $1,000 a pound. They’re sniffed out by well-
trained mutts in nearby woods and famously feted every fall at the National White Truffle Fair in the town of Alba. The
climax of the fair is the white truffle auction, simulcast by satellite to deep-pocketed gourmands around the globe. It’s the closest thing this region gets to a red carpet event. Last year, an American nabbed the grand prize, a white truffle weighing in at 2.76 pounds. His winning bid: 98,000 euros. This is the quiet corner of Italy. For glitz, head west to Monte Carlo and Cannes. For exquisite mayhem, go south to Rome. But to find out how a glass of Barolo, a plate of truffle risotto, and a chorus of cicadas can shake you like a thunderclap, stay right here.
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