The White Truffle Road Trip
November 5 – 12, 2025
At A Glance
Dates: November 5–12, 2026
Route: Florence · Bologna · Verona · Lake Garda · Milan · Alba
Guests: Maximum 12
Price: €10,550 per person (sharing a room)
Eight days.
One season.
A lifetime of memories.
The White Truffle Road
A Deep Culinary Journey Through Northern Italy
Mist settles over vineyards. Fires are lit in trattoria kitchens. Pasta dough is rolled thinner. And in the forests of Piedmont, something miraculous grows beneath the earth: the white truffle.
This is not a tour.
It is a pilgrimage.
For eight days, we travel by road through the beating heart of Italian gastronomy—following a route shaped by centuries of craft, obsession, and flavor. From Renaissance Florence to truffle-scented Alba, we eat the full spectrum of Northern Italy: high and low, humble and exalted, rustic and sublime.
This journey is designed exclusively for members of the THT Hard Core group and a small number of equally devoted guests. Twelve seats only. One table. One rhythm. One shared passion.
The embers glow in Florence, where the hearth Is measured by the Chianina’s heavy weight; The Bistecca bleeds into the Tuscan earth, While Ribollita thickens on the plate.
Then North, where porticos cast cooling shadows, Bologna rolls its gold in silken sheets; Tagliatelle winds through rich Ragù, And Mortadella scents the ancient streets.
Verona bleeds a different shade of wine, Where Amarone stains the rice to plum; The Risotto glows, a velvet, dark design, And Pastissada waits till winter’s come.
On Garda’s shore, the water whispers low, Where Lido 84 keeps its lakeside watch; There, Camanini lets the spirits flow, And Cacio e Pepe finds its bladder-notch. The Lavarello gleams in silver light, As Love Knots fold through the quiet night.
The sun of Milan is a saffron hue, A Risotto plate of burnished, liquid gold; The Cotoletta crisps for someone new, As Diego Rossi breaks the tavern mold— With Fried Tripe served in Trippa’s yellow glow, The “fifth quarter” is the only truth to know.
At last to Alba, through the red-door frame, To Piazza Duomo, draped in rose and mist; Where Enrico Crippa stakes his garden’s claim, And fifty greens by morning dew are kissed. Tajarin are fine as violin strings, While Truffles fall like ghosts on angel wings.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
PIAZZA DUOMO – 3 Michelin stars
Behind an unassuming red door in the ancient heart of Alba, a portal opens to a sanctuary of light and soil. Here, Piazza Duomo breathes with the rhythm of the Langhe. Within its iconic, rose-hued walls—where Francesco Clemente’s frescoes dance like quiet ghosts—Chef Enrico Crippa conducts a silent symphony of the earth, translating the wild language of the Piedmontese landscape into edible art.
His masterpiece is a living mosaic: the “Insalata 21, 31, 41, 51…”, a botanical pilgrimage of a hundred leaves, herbs, and blossoms plucked from his biodynamic garden at dawn. When autumn’s mist descends, the room transforms into a temple for the White Truffle. With the humility of a true master, Crippa steps into the shadows, allowing the “White Gold” to speak its ancient, earthen truth. It is more than a meal; it is an intellectual romance between the precision of the hand and the soul of the land.
LIDO 84 – 1 Michelin star
On the sun-drenched edge of Lake Garda, where the water whispers against the shore of Gardone Riviera, sits Lido 84, a sanctuary of flavor and memory. Here, brothers Riccardo and Giancarlo Camanini orchestrate a symphony of the senses, blurring the line between avant-garde daring and the soul of Italian tradition.
The air is thick with the scent of innovation and lake mist. Within these walls, the legendary Cacio e Pepe en Vessie is born, a transformation of pasta cradled in parchment-like skin to find its most potent, velvet truth. It is a place where culinary rigor meets the warmth of a long-lost home, turning every meal into a fleeting, edible poem.
Trippa – 1 Michelin star
In a quiet corner of Milan, where the city’s frantic pace yields to the warmth of amber-yellow walls, Trippa stands as a defiant love letter to the honest kitchen. Here, Chef Diego Rossi—a culinary renegade who traded the clinical precision of tweezers for the raw power of fire and soul—has dismantled the pretense of the white tablecloth. In its place, he has built a temple to the quinto quarto, the “fifth quarter,” where humble offal is redeemed and elevated to the sublime.
The air vibrates with the energy of a man who respects the whole beast, turning the forgotten into the unforgettable. His Fried Tripe is a revelation—a crisp, golden whisper of texture—while his Vitello Tonnato remains a velvet standard-bearer of Italian tradition. Guided by the morning market and the rhythm of the seasons, Rossi weaves wild herbs and ancient flavors into a daily-changing tapestry, proving that true luxury is found not in the rare, but in the real.
Ristorante Alla Borsa
In the idyllic cradle of Valeggio sul Mincio, where the river’s breath mingles with the shadow of the Scaligero Castle, Ristorante Alla Borsa stands as a timeless sentinel of legend. Since 1959, the Pasquali family has traded in a currency far more precious than the gold of the ancient merchants who gave the house its name. Here, the true treasure is the Nodo d’Amore, the Love Knot, a culinary vow captured in pasta.
Each tortellino is a small miracle of devotion, crafted from a sheet of dough rolled so sheer it rivals a nymph’s silk veil. Hand-knotted with rhythmic grace, these delicate parcels whisper the story of a soldier and his river-bride, their eternal embrace hidden within a savory heart. In the quiet precision of the Sfogline, history is not merely remembered; it is folded, pinched, and served as a tender, edible poem to the Veneto soul.
The Essentials
Check-in: Thursday, November 5, 2026
Check-out: Thursday, November 12, 2026
First meal: Dinner on Thursday, November 5, 2026
Last meal: lunch Thursday, November 12, 2026
Full timetable of meals and activities will be emailed to participants ahead of the tour.
A Note on Set Menus
The menus offered during the tour are selected by The Hungry Tourist with the help of our local partners. We believe they represent the best culinary fare that San Sebastian has to offer. Guests may order outside of these menus at their own expense.
Tour Fees
Per person, shared room: €10,550
Single occupancy supplement: €2,650
Price includes
All food, beverages, taxes, service charges, transportation, and seven nights of accommodation (not eligible for loyalty program points).
Price does not include airfare to Italy or any travel or medical insurance.
Payment
A non-refundable deposit of €2500 per person will be charged upon reservation.
The balance must be paid no later than 60 days before the first day of the tour.
Payments are preferred by bank transfer. Payments with Credit Cards will incur a 4.5% supplement.
Cancellation Policy and Penalties
If cancellation is received up to 30 days before the first day of the tour, the deposit will be forfeited.
If cancellation is received up to 10 days before the first day of the tour, a penalty fee of 50% of the remaining balance will be charged. If a cancellation notice is received within 10 days of the first day of the tour or the guest is a no-show, the entirety of the remaining balance will be charged.
Testimonials
his was my second THT experience in San Sebastián and I’ll start from the end: I would definitely do it again.
Gabriela is a walking encyclopedia who truly enjoys what she does. David has done these who knows how many times and is like a child in a candy store visiting for the first time.
The tour in San Sebastian organized by David is the one you must put on your top list if you are a foodie like me.
In 4 days, you experience the best food and service you can imagine. Exceptional products are sublimated by very talented and down-to-earth chefs.
Gabriella Ranelli surrounds the tour with her huge food knowledge, stories, and anecdotes. It’s a great addition to an already unforgettable experience.
