The Barbetta Truffle Hounds, Apollo (pictured above), together with his siblings, Diana, and Pluto, snuffle for truffles in the Piemonte countryside during white truffle season.  At other times of the year, they may be seen at Barbetta by appointment.

Their mother, Diana, renowned truffle hound champion, is the only dog to have hunted for truffles on the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York.

Laura Maioglio with Barbetta's truffle-hunters and truffle-hounds

In Italy truffles are hunted by dogs, not pigs. What an uncommon satisfaction it is to set out on a crisp, fall morning, your own truffle hound at your side, who if he is anything like Friciulin (pictured above), upon being released from the mortifications of the dog-house to display his skills as a truffle hound, will begin by plunging into the dewy grass, rolling over to scratch his back against the fall field flowers in joyous anticipation of meandering through meadow and woodland snuffling for truffles. Certainly, at this moment, he is your best friend, avid to spend half a day scouring the countryside, nose to the ground the whole time, in search of a rare, pungent delicacy that you will hedonistically savour that evening and of which he will taste not a morsel, a piece of yesterday's bread his only reward.

White truffles have been called the "grey diamonds of Piemonte." They have been found nowhere else in the world, except in this northwestern province of Italy. They grow only wild; no one has yet found a way to cultivate them. Rarer and stronger in aroma and taste than the black truffle, the white truffle has a brief season from late September to Christmas. Once the ground freezes over the white truffle can no longer grow. Hounds, specially trained, hunt out the white truffle. A typical truffle hunt begins with the hunter unleashing his dog in the field to let him run loose.

 The dog runs about, to and fro, nose to the ground, seeking out the scent of the truffle, sniffing with impressive zeal. Truffle hounds speak the Piemontese dialect, not Italian, and although they usually need no encouragement, their sniffing is traditionally accompanied by the truffle-hunter's oft-repeated: "Pei-la! Pei-la!" ("Go, get it! Go, get it!" in Piemontese). When the dog scents a truffle, which may lie anywhere from a few inches to two feet below the surface and vary in size from that of a bean to that of a melon, he begins to scratch the earth furiously. The hunter then leaps to the spot, removes the dog, digs up the truffle himself (if digging were left to the dog he would damage the truffle), and gratefully rewards the dog with a piece of bread.

Having cleaned the truffle of fresh earth, the hunter drops it into his truffle satchel and hunter and dog set out once again through field and forest in search of the next truffle. Barbetta maintains its own truffle-hunters and truffle-hounds in Piemonte. The truffles hunted by these dogs are flown to New York throughout the truffle season. Besides Fonduta con Tartufi, the great, classic Piemontese dish, white truffles are traditionally served over raw mushrooms, carne cruda, risotto alla Piemontese, ravioli, and game.