Truffle Summer Festival

The Truffle Summer Festival in Goriano Sicoli

The Truffle Summer Festival is a young food and wine event held in Goriano Sicoli, a mountain village in the Valle Subequana, in the province of L'Aquila, in the heart of inland Abruzzo. Conceived in 2024 by truffle industry entrepreneurs Mirko Cifani and Andrea Marganelli, the festival aims to promote the summer black truffle and, through it, the entire environmental, gastronomic, and human heritage of an often overlooked inland area.

Truffle as an experience

The central theme of the festival is to present the truffle as an experience rather than just a product to be served at the table. The Valle Subequana, with its well-drained calcareous soils, humus-rich earth, and mixed forests of oak, hornbeam, and hazel, offers an ideal habitat for the spontaneous growth of the Scorzone summer truffle and other prized varieties. Around this ecosystem, the festival builds a journey made of nature, traditional knowledge, and direct encounters with local truffle hunters, the guardians of an ancient tradition.

Festival activities

The program combines moments of taste, discovery, and in-depth exploration. Highlights from past editions include:

• truffle hunts in the mountain territory, to experience the search firsthand alongside the hunters and their dogs;
• the Rioni in Tavola culinary competition, which pits the village districts against each other to create the best truffle-based dish;
• activities for children, such as truffle hunters for a day, designed to introduce kids to the woods and the product;
• gourmet dinners featuring black truffle, served at the village's monumental fountain (reservation required);
• guided nature excursions and discussions on truffles, the territory, experiential tourism, and the regeneration of inland areas.

An event for the territory

Beyond the gastronomic aspect, the Truffle Summer Festival offers conferences and round tables dedicated to truffle quality and certification, experiential tourism, and the digital storytelling of villages, with the participation of university professors and experts. For Goriano Sicoli and the Valle Subequana, the event represents an opportunity to promote an authentic Abruzzo, capable of intertwining quality gastronomy, hiking, and the empowerment of local communities.