Stars and Truffles: celebrities love Italian truffles

White truffle has always had a soft spot for celebrities: from Rita Hayworth to Bruce Willis, plenty of stars have fallen for it. At Tenuta Torciano, it is not unusual to run into them during truffle hunting.

A story that starts in Alba

Stars and truffles

There are many famous people in the world who love truffles, whether white or black, as proven by the various international fairs, especially the one in Alba, in Piedmont, where one can run into well-known personalities, both Italian and foreign. Giacomo Morra is the creator of the duo truffle-VIPs: he is the one who started sending complimentary white truffles to celebrities, presidents, actresses and American athletes. The initiative began in 1949, when actress Rita Hayworth received the precious tuber.

Since then, the largest specimen found in the Piedmontese hills of Northern Italy has been sent every year to a movie star in good faith. Among the recipients were Sofia Loren, director Francis Ford Coppola, Marilyn Monroe (whose husband at the time, Joe Di Maggio, wanted to buy an Italian "truffle hound" for $150), Gerard Depardieu, Penelope Cruz, Claudia Cardinale, and many more.

Hollywood stories

Cinema and truffles

Bruce Willis is willing to spend a small fortune on Tuber magnatum Pico, the scientific name for white truffles, along with the perfect regional wines to accompany the precious tuber, like Barolo and Barbaresco. Even Michael Douglas buys significant amounts of white truffle on his travels in Italy, which begs the question: are they for him, or for his wife, Catherine Zeta Jones, who has confessed to using a special shampoo made of caviar and, yes, white truffle.

The connection between cinema and truffles was also explored in an exhibition in Alba centered around quotes, trivia and plot twists in dozens of films: from the stuffed pheasant that Hugh Grant uses to seduce Julia Roberts in Notting Hill, to the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, who wrote a screenplay set in Le Langhe, called The Mystery of the Truffle Hunter, during a visit to Alba in 1959. The movie was never produced, but anyone curious about the plot, which begins with the murder of an old truffle hunter, can read it, in Italian, in the book Il Re del Tartufo, by Giordano Berti and Raoul Montanari.

A rarity

Why white truffle is so precious

Extravagances aside, white truffle is the perfect delicacy for refined palates. It is one of the rarest and most expensive foods in the world: impossible to grow, and available only for a couple of months a year.

At Tenuta Torciano

The celebrities who have come to visit us

Also at Tenuta Torciano there are many celebrities who come to try the exciting Truffle Hunting Experience in Tuscany. Among the latest we had the pleasure of hosting Raquel Baldelomar, journalist at Forbes US, Xu Weizhou, famous Chinese actor and singer, Georgia Pellegrini, American author, chef, expert in outdoor adventures and host of the TV show "Wild Food", Kim Yoo-jung, famous South Korean actress, and many travel bloggers and food bloggers like Karina Nigay, Gyrol Anna, Dorothy Soh and Elsie Hewitt.

Live the experience

Truffle season has started

The truffle season is officially starting, and at Tenuta Torciano we are ready to welcome every day all the people, families and celebrities who decide to try this unforgettable experience at least once in their life, accompanied by experienced truffle hunters and beautiful trained dogs.

After each truffle hunting lesson, you can join a Typical Tuscan Lunch with a vertical tasting of Torciano wines and, of course, some truffle-based dishes. You can also book Cooking Classes where the protagonist is exclusively the truffle.