Sant’ Angelo in Vado is a small town in the Marche region not far from Mercatello near the Umbrian border. It’s known for its true white truffles, Tuber Magnatum Pico.
Sant’ Angelo in the region of Le Marche throws a big party in October called Mostra Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco pregiato delle Marche. It’s not the rather staid event held in San Miniato in Tuscany; here there are rock bands blasting away, magicians making things disappear, butchers slicing through hams, and the rather odd gent you see to the right with his two legged camel and bone phone. if I remember my physical anthropology, it seems to have femur written all over it. In any case he has a leg up on the TIM service. (He was constantly on the phone inquiring for the location of Sant’ Angelo’s virgins, who, he surmised after a while, were all “used up” or something.)
And here’s something you probably don’t know. Within the mayor’s “cabinet” there exists a “Minister of Truffles.” I want that job.
It’s not often you hear of a truffle festival held in October. The dogs usually don’t start pawing the ground before November. A truffle hunter told me that the reason it’s held in October is that if a few early truffles were found, they’d bring a great price on account of the scarcity of them. And indeed they are expensive. You can see a picture I took of the pathetically small truffles being sold for quite a lot of money in this early truffle fair.
Here’s the official site (in Italian), in case you want to attend next year.
If you’d like to stay inside this small but interesting village, try the highly regarded B&B Palazzo Santinelli.