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The Langhe hills south of Alba produce two of the world's great red wines, one of its most expensive natural foods, and some of its most refined cooking. In October, when the vines turn gold and the truffle season opens, there is nowhere in Italy we would rather take you.

An insider's autumn in Piedmont — the Alba truffle market, the cellars in their post-harvest mood, and the rituals that make this October week unrepeatable. There is a small wooden stall at the back of the Alba truffle market, on the third Saturday of October each year, that is run by a man named Battista whose family has been hunting the white truffle in the woods around Roddi for three generations. His stock on a typical Saturday is perhaps twenty pieces, ranging from the s