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Truffles have seduced food lovers for thousands of years, a Mediterranean staple since antiquity. Greek myth credits Zeus—the philosopher Plutarch claimed his thunderbolt's heat, fused with ground moisture, birthed the perfect truffle bed.
But even in our tech century, chasing these prized fungi is brutal labor. They grow underground, anchoring to tree roots, utterly invisible and unsmellable to human senses.
So people drafted pigs, legends of scent. In recent decades, though, the porkers have largely been benched in favor of dogs.
'Humans first found truffles via pigs and kept using them—until someone realized a trained dog could match them,' Italian truffle hunter Matteo Lavorini tells Modern Dog.
The elusive white Alba truffle can fetch north of $2,000 a pound.
Dogs bring endurance and, crucially, restraint—they don't scarf the fancy fungi on sight. For scale: white Alba truffles top $2,000 a pound, while black varieties still run past $300.
'Slowly people dropped pigs for dogs—you get better quantity and quality,' Lavorini jokes, adding that wrestling a starving 300-pound pig is nobody's idea of fun.
Based just outside Rome, Lavorini is a truffle-hunting pro leaning on three helpers: Lagotto Romagnolo (Italian Water Dog) Uzi and Julietta, plus Cocker Spaniel Wendy.
Ten-year-old Uzi is the veteran and a true ace, says Lavorini. 'She refuses to work with other dogs—she's jealous and demands all the attention!'
Four-year-old Julietta earns her keep too, nailing truffles in any conditions.
Wendy, five, he calls 'clever and a solid hunter'—when she's not being 'stubborn and disobedient.'
Off the clock, Uzi, Julietta and Wendy are cuddle-hungry family pets like any other.
While any dog has hunting potential, Lavorini says some breeds simply run circles around the rest—the Italian Water Dogs and Spaniels among them. 'We stick to breeds bred for generations for this exact work—hunting is literally in their DNA.' Beagles, German Shepherds and Poodles pop up as pros online too.
Hunting runs in Lavorini's blood, his grandfather Bruno starting the family line.
'It's a family inheritance—my grandpa hunted, my dad still does. They handed me this passion as a kid and it fast became my life's biggest love,' he says, noting his father Furio keeps five truffle dogs of his own.
Lavorini went full-time at 25, less than a decade ago, starting by training his own pack.
'Training kicks off at two months—pure play for them,' he says.
'They learn by playing with truffles—simple drills that climb to harder ones until they can sniff them out underground.'
Treats, naturally, are the secret weapon.
'We reward every good run in training,' Lavorini explains. 'They bond hard to the truffle scent and realize finding it earns happy owners and snacks.'
Italy hosts eight truffle types—white the rarest, black more common (but still pricey).
'A great truffle dog nails them all, though each will shine at one kind,' he shares.
The thunderbolt tale is cute fiction; science says the fungi spread through evolution and a signature swap of nutrients (ectomycorrhizae) near the roots of willows, poplars, hazelnuts and oaks.
Hunters typically hit the forest at dawn or dusk, especially in sweltering summers. Lavorini works the countryside and mountains around Rome, roughly two hours out.
'Italy caps us at two dogs at a time,' he says. 'In cold weather dogs last longer—so sometimes we're out all day.'
Dogs rarely bark a find; instinct takes over and they dig.
'The instant a dog scents truffles, the digging starts—that's the age-old method,' he explains. Depending on soil hardness he pitches in with a special tool, or the dog unearths the prize itself and presents it (for a treat, naturally).
Italy is the crown land of luxe truffles, but they also crop up in Romania, Bosnia, Switzerland and Hungary—plus North America's Pacific Northwest. Oregon throws an annual truffle festival and a two-day handler bootcamp for newcomers.
On YouTube, Lavorini flaunts his hauls—truffle pasta, risotto, fried eggs and buffalo mozzarella.
'I'm a classics man,' he says, pointing to his clips.
Beyond a flex of status and taste, truffles carry a reputation as nature's aphrodisiac—only fueling the appetite of rich epicures then and now.
Lavorini has since grown well past hunting: he wholesales to restaurants abroad, runs private hunting adventures, and hosts truffled dinners on his farm—still slipping out to hunt in his spare time.
'It's a thing you can't quit,' he says.
Matteo offers a rare truffle hunt-and-lunch day for Rome visitors: a two-hour forest excursion just outside the city with his trained pack, learning the craft from a pro.
Then guests join him to cook and devour a seven-course tasting menu, wine included, built around the day's fresh finds.
Capped at 10 people, typically running 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at 90 euros a head.
Book through Airbnb, matteotruffles.com, Trip Advisor or Instagram.
First appeared in the award-winning Modern Dog magazine. Subscribe today!
Refresh date: October 22, 2025
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