San Miniato White Truffles Fair, 2011

Located halfway between Pisa and Florence, San Miniato is a medieval hilltop town with a beautiful historic centre, dominated by the cathedral, the Episcopal palace, the municipal palace and the tower fortress. It overlooks the Arno, Era and Egola valleys.

White truffles from the area

The beautiful area around San Miniato produces around a quarter of Italy's white truffles, a fact celebrated by this quaint medieval town in its annual fair on the second, third and fourth weekends of November.
As well as stalls and tastings with fresh truffles, there are open-air plays, marching bands, special menus in restaurants, and a local market.

Pecorino cheese (sheep's milk) with white truffles

Here are some more pictures from the fair....

Local olives

The San Miniato National White Truffle Market transforms the city into a huge open-air tasting workshop for the entire month of November. Here the truffle is king, displayed in all its glory in the historical Piazza del Duomo. Other squares around the town also have their own markets, which are a tribute to the typical flavours of the hill country around San Miniato. 

View from the tower fortess

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