Julietta suddenly stopped dead in her tracks her nose went down to the soil and she took a deep breath.Within seconds her tail exploded wagging like a propellor blade. The hunter Matteo gently pushed her aside and slowly with great care using a small trowel began to scrape back the soil. He motioned to Julietta and she began to dig furiously after a few seconds she was nudged aside again and so on until the hole was about twelve inches deep. There the outline of what looked like a small black egg started to appear until it nestled in his hand. The first of the day a truffle…..black gold.

                   We had travelled north of Rome to Bracciano one of the major lakes of Italy a glimmering tear drop of blue surrounded by forested hills and mountains and tiny lakeside villages only forty seven klms north of Rome but in another world.Our hunt with Matteo began in the early afternoon and soon we were following him and his pack of hounds deep into the forest.The plan was to hunt until we had enough truffles and the return to his village for a home cooked seven course dinner at his house.The common theme was ,of course , the freshest truffles I have ever tasted expertly paired with local produce. Soft white cheeses drizzled with honey from the woodsand topped with truffle shavings. A mountain of risotto covered with a snow of truffles, roast potato with parmesan and truffle so on for seven courses washed down with local wine made by Matteos father from his own grapes and finished with home made limoncello and grappa.

It was a fitting last day to our tour tomorrow there would be the treasures of Rome and then onto Portugal. In a sense my husband and I had come full circle through michelin starred restaurants through super Tuscans Sassicaia, Ornechela,Brunello to the simple delights of an Italian  country village.