Giulio the truffle hunter — Attraction in Bagno a Ripoli

Giulio! What a beautiful person full of life and passion. My wife and i are on our honey moon enjoying a trip around Italy… we are truffle lovers and personally I am obsessed with truffles, living in NY we dont get to experience it like Italians do, the truffle capital of the world! I said to myself I must experience the best of the best when it comes to truffles, after doing lots of research we found Giulio the truffle hunter. Just the name makes him sound like to god of truffles which he certainly is! As we drive the beautiful roads of Tuscany it leads us to a very authentic little house on top of a mountain over looking the beautiful Florence, we are greeted by Giulio which leads us into his home sitting us down around his dining table and giving us a very detailed and knowledgeable insight of truffles through one of his amazing paintings… after about an hour of getting real insight of what truffles are and how special they are… we took a 1min ride to the hills where we get out of the car with his 2 hunter Dogs, Scott and Magga. Magga is the pro of 4 years, Scott is a 1 yr old puppy still in training. With in a few mins roaming the woods, Magga finds a small truffle for us! Giulio knew how obsessed and my love for truffle is, he made an exception which he said he Almost never does and handed me Magga the pro hunter, we hunted for a little bit and I spotted her reactions which after watching Giulio find the previous one with Magga I knew she found something, we found a huge huge black summer truffle!!! Which took me to 7th heaven! Giulio couldn’t believe it since he never lets anyone take Magga or didn’t expect an amateur like me knowing where and how to hunt a truffle… he also let my wife hunt with Scott, Scott only found 2 truffles with in over a year since he is still in training . After walking with my wife for a few mins she and Scott found another truffle!! Unbelievable! After our hunt in the woods we went back to his house where he cooked us up the best homemade pasta with freshly shaved truffle on it. A bunch of it. Poured us some wine and we sang the afternoon away with his truffle songs… A real dream come true! Authentic moments that will be remembered forever! Until next time thank you for the amazing experience Giulio, Magga and...

When I say this was one of the best experiences of my life, I'm not exaggerating. Last month my husband and I spent 11 days in Italy, 4 of which were in a small community just outside Downtown Florence. My husband and I decided to have a glass of wine at a local cafe. We sat down next to a man drinking a beer reading the newspaper who picked up that we were Americans. He introduced himself and started talking about the area, things to do, places to eat, and about his Truffle Hunting experience. My husband and I thought it sounded like an interesting, unique experience so we booked for the next day. Giulio even offered to pick us up at our hotel since we did not have a car. The day started off at his house, that from the porch overlooks Downtown Florence and is absolutely beautiful. We got a lesson on the truffle and truffle hunting. We met his incredibly adorable and friendly dog (we only took one that day since it was just my husband and I). Then he drove us up through an olive tree grove to his hunting spot. The views alone were incredible but the fact the we were able to find several truffles was just amazing. After our hunting, Giulio took us back to his home and cooked us one of the best meals I've ever eaten, and we drank the best wine. My husband doesn't even drink wine and he thought it was fantastic. Giulio was kind and warm and truly a genuine person. He treated us like old friends. We left feeling so happy. I'm glad we decided to partake in Giulio's truffle hunting experience, and I would love to back and do it again. ...

My wife and I knew we wanted to experience a truffle hunt on our recent honeymoon in Italy. We are so happy we connected with Giulio, as it was one of the best experiences of our whole trip! After introductions, Giulio prepared 3 of his dogs (so friendly!!) Maga, Tina, and Scott, and we drove together a short distance, where he let us hold the dogs leads as we explored together for truffles. The dogs were so excited, complete professionals, and we found 4!! truffles together (there is no guarantee you'll find a truffle, but the odds were very good)! Each time one of the pups found a truffle, Giulio would come over and dig it up for us. After the hunt concluded (I could've kept going all day) we went back to his beautiful home, where we leaned about the different kinds of truffles, and then had a magnificent homemade dinner of appertivo, pasta, wine, prosecco, and desert, of all fresh locally farmed ingredients, topped with fresh truffle from Giulio himself. After dinner, Giulio treated us to an original song, which was so much fun, and then we were on our way. The time flew by, we had so much fun, and went home full, happy, and more than satisfied with our experience. Would happily recommend this experience to anyone, its just so much fun - plus you get to keep the truffles you find as well, which meant we got to have freshly shaved truffle on our next few...