“The truffle is like cashmere, like a diamond: It is precious, its value changes depending on its size, and it is difficult to put a price on it because prices also vary depending on where you buy it. There is only one rule: quality.”

That is how Gianfranco Curti of Tartufi Ponzio, an Alba boutique that has been selling delicacies since 1947, describes the Tuber magnatum Pico, the white truffle, on the eve of the International White Truffle Fair, which runs from Saturday through Dec. 6.

It is shaping up to be a difficult season. Prolonged drought has reduced supplies and pushed prices higher. For consumers, white truffles are currently selling in shops for €350 to €500 per 100 grams, with prices reaching as high as €550.

“This year’s outlook leaves little room for optimism. With the summer heat and prolonged drought, October will be tough,” says Franco Canta, an internationally known truffle hunter from San Damiano d’Asti.

The truffle, he explains, “looks back three months”: Conditions in July, August and September have shaped the season. “Since the hunt began Oct. 1, the signs have not been encouraging. There’s very little out there.”

Rain could help restore some balance to a season expected to run through the end of January. “Water would clear things out, getting rid of the bad truffles and helping the ones that are still growing.”

Limited supplies are also driving prices higher.

“We’re having a hard time keeping up with it: Prices are rising by about €500 a kilo every day,” Canta says, referring to what hunters are being paid. There are about 4,000 licensed truffle hunters in Piedmont.

For now, the market is hovering between €2,000 and €2,500 a kilo, but “by Friday, we could be looking at €3,000 to €4,000.”

Nature is not the only factor. International demand and geopolitical tensions are also reshaping the market.

“With the wars, U.S. tariffs and exports, several markets have changed,” Canta says. “In Dubai, for example, demand has collapsed.”

The paradox is that while the truffle supply is shrinking, Alba is preparing for another sold-out season.

“We expect 600,000 visitors over the course of the fair,” says Stefano Mosca, Director of the Alba White Truffle Fair organization.

Tourism is increasingly international. Thousands of visitors from Sydney, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Scandinavia and Germany came to last weekend’s Palio degli Asini, for the city’s traditional donkey race.

“It’s the world in Alba,” Mosca says.

Even now, finding a hotel room or a table at a restaurant during the fair is a challenge.

“There is a significant flow of tourists, with stronger numbers from Switzerland, France, Germany, the U.S., Canada and Australia, as well as new arrivals from South America and the Far East,” says Axel Iberti, President of the fair organization.

“Production is low right now, but quality is good. And the beautiful thing is that the truffle is the icing on the cake of an already extraordinary cuisine.”

Then there is the work being done throughout the region year-round.

“We’re a team looking to the future,” Iberti says. “Taking care of the forest means fighting climate change, protecting the biodiversity that sustains the truffle and combating soil erosion.”

Among the initiatives backed by the fair are efforts by truffle hunters to plant new trees, as well as an educational program with local schools.

“Climate change hasn’t helped us,” adds Marco Scuderi, Vice President of the fair organization. “But it will be up to us to showcase the best truffles we find, with careful selection and rigorous quality controls.”

And, of course, the truffle eventually reaches the table.

For three-Michelin-starred Chef Michelangelo Mammoliti of La Rei Natura in Serralunga d’Alba, it is not an ingredient to be added indiscriminately to a dish.

“When fair season arrives, it’s a ritual for us. It’s the moment when the rhythm of nature changes,” he says.

This year, Mammoliti introduced a menu called “Il mio Piemonte” — “My Piedmont” — which he says captures the 12 years he has spent in the Langhe.

Among the less traditional pairings that have worked particularly well, he cites “sea urchin and turbot, which go beautifully together.”

At his restaurant, white truffle is priced at €10 to €14 per gram during the season, with truffles weighing at least 100 grams.

“Our dishes have a life of their own,” Mammoliti says. “The truffle isn’t an extra. It requires precise, carefully calibrated preparations designed specifically around it.”