News
Facts checked: 9 October 2026. Harvest dates from the Umbrian species calendar; confirm the exact opening against the Regione Umbria calendar, which is the governing source.
The truffle year restarts this week. After a genuine gap – the first three weeks of September, when nothing native was legally coming out of the ground here – the valley’s defining ingredient comes back into season.
It is worth being precise about what opens and when, because “truffle season” gets used to mean four different things and the differences are the difference between a good dinner and an expensive disappointment.
What opens now
| Truffle | Season | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Scorzone (summer black) | Closed 31 August | The mild one that carries the warm months. Gone until next May. |
| Bianco (white) | Opens end of September | The expensive one. Shaved raw, never cooked. |
| Uncinato (winter scorzone) | 1 October – 31 January | The autumn workhorse. Good, and much less costly than the white. |
| Nero pregiato (prized black) | 1 December – 15 March | The one the Valnerina is actually famous for. Not yet. |
On the white truffle the sources we can find differ slightly – some give the last Sunday in September, others 1 October. Either way it is in by the start of October. The uncinato date is unambiguous.
Umbria also has a spring truffle, the bianchetto (Tuber borchii), harvested from 15 January into April. It is a good excuse for a late-winter visit as the pregiato winds down (Prodotti di Norcia; Fortunati Antonio).
The bit worth saying out loud
The truffle most visitors have in mind when they book a trip here is the nero pregiato, and it does not open until 1 December. From now until then you can eat very well – the uncinato is a proper truffle and the white is a serious one – but the valley’s signature ingredient is still two months away.
So if a December, January or February trip is possible for you, that is when this place is at its best on a plate. It is also the quietest and coldest time of year, which is either the trade or the point, depending on the traveller.
In the meantime, the useful question in a restaurant is not “is there truffle?” but “which truffle, and is it fresh?” A good osteria will answer without hesitating, and will tell you if what is on the menu is preserved or from outside the region. That is normal and often very good – it just should not be sold to you as a fresh Valnerina black truffle in October.
If you want to see it rather than just eat it
Hunts run through the autumn with licensed tartufai and their dogs. Two things to ask before booking: which species you will be looking for, and whether it is in season on your date. Both answers should be immediate. Our truffle guide has the full calendar and what a hunt actually involves; the villages page covers where to base yourself for it.
Hunting is banned at night, from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, so if someone offers a moonlit hunt, walk away (L.R. Umbria 8/2004).
Sources
- Umbrian harvest calendar by species: prodottidinorcia.it and fortunatiantonio.it. Where the two differ on the white truffle opening, we have said so above rather than picking one.
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