SANSEPOLCRO
The timing is yet to be established, but the establishment of a district association of truffle hunters is also certain in Valtiberina Toscana. Which in fact becomes a necessity, after what emerged from the meeting in recent days in Sansepolcro at the headquarters of the Union of Municipalities. “The proposal was welcomed positively – recalls Mario Gallai, the truffle hunter from Sansepolcro who promoted the initiative – and therefore we are all willing to stay together and move forward to put a stop to the criteria on which the authorizations are based. We carry out this activity as a hobby and the majority of us are enthusiasts”.
Added to this are the demands of farmers, who aim to have a monopoly on the situation and to pass off truffles as agricultural products, when in fact they are “natural”, just like mushrooms. “The presence of an association in the area is of fundamental importance – said Livio Bianchi, Tuscan regional vice president of the Italian Truffle Association, at the speakers’ table – and having such an organization allows us to act as ‘sentinels’ for the activities related to truffles: from environmental surveillance to the application of the rules”.
Central point of the debate, the regional law n. 36 of August 2023, with implementation last May, which however has been held up for the moment due to issues related to the actual ratio between truffle-producing areas and controlled truffle grounds, with regard to the white truffle; a ratio that should be 20% (i.e. the controlled areas compared to the productive ones), but which in Tuscany was found to be lower following a calculation made on the potentially truffle-producing areas, calculated not on the basis of a census.
