The adventurous story of the first gastronomic bistro dedicated to truffle, born in the Langhe

Amidst the UNESCO heritage hills, Pico is born – a bistro dedicated to Tuber magnatum, the white truffle of Alba. A visionary idea from Tartuflanghe, a company founded 50 years ago. Tartuflanghe turns 50, a “family company” devoted to truffles, founded in 1975 in the heart of the Langhe – the quintessential land of white truffle (and more). To celebrate its half-century, it opens the first gastronomic bistro dedicated to truffle, aptly named Pico, after the scientific name for white truffle, Tuber magnatum, defined as such by Turin doctor Vittorio Pico in 1788.

The innovative idea behind Pico Bistrot starts with the team: Pico is the result of collaboration between siblings Paolo and Stefania Montanaro, owners of Tartuflanghe, and chefs (also brothers) Giuseppe and Francesco D’Errico, who led the kitchen at La Madernassa in Guarene from 2022 to 2024. With the closure (for now – it will reopen soon in a new format) of the fine dining venue, a new project has emerged within the charming resort among the hills, based on vision and terroir, offering a unique and creative experience. The ultimate goal: a place where one can eat fresh truffle all year round. Thanks to innovative technologies and the know-how developed over 50 years, explain the Montanaros. The same vision is shared by the D’Errico brothers, originally from Campania, who dreamed of a place to create something personal, with an authentic, seasonal and accessible cuisine.

The result: a culinary journey between Campania and the great classics of Piedmontese cuisine, with a special focus on top-quality ingredients and the enhancement of fresh truffle – white, black, summer – the star for most of the year. On the menu: traditional starters – rabbit “tuna”, vitello tonnato, aubergine parmigiana, egg, fondue, peas and truffle, and the Pico bruschetta (milk bread toasted in butter with raw veal, butter, anchovies and truffle) – dishes such as pasta mista with potatoes and truffle, alongside tajarin and Piedmontese-style risotto, classic mains like braised beef cheek in Nebbiolo, guinea fowl, cod fillet, but also Nonna Rosa’s meatballs, and among the desserts bunet, as well as pastiera with orange sorbet and lemon caprese. The D’Errico brothers now consider themselves Piemontese-Campanian. Giuseppe trained with Marchesi, spent years at the three-Michelin-starred Maison Troisgros in Ouches, and at Ristorante Ornellaia in Zurich before arriving at La Madernassa. Francesco, after ALMA (Marchesi’s school) and Maison Decoret in Vichy, joined his brother at Ornellaia before returning with him to Italy at La Madernassa.

A major support to the kitchen is Pico’s Farm, a garden open to guests, where fruits, vegetables, aromatic herbs and edible flowers are grown. Also in the works: a vinegar cellar. Sustainability and environmental awareness are crucial, especially for truffle harvesting: the Montanaro siblings aim to preserve the woodland heritage of the region and convert forests into truffle grounds, which today extend over 30 hectares of owned land.

A project that began long ago

The story of a project that made truffles democratic and accessible all year round begins much earlier, in the 1950s. It is the tale of the passion and adventurous spirit of Giuseppe “Beppe” Montanaro, who dreamed of becoming a chef. Born in 1939, Beppe left his small mountain village in Alta Langa – Lequio Berria, today with just over 400 inhabitants – at a very young age to head to “the city”, Alba, to work at the prestigious restaurant of Hotel Savona run by Giacomo Morra, the inventor of the truffle phenomenon. It was Morra who decided to offer the best white truffle from the area to great personalities – Churchill, Truman, Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Pope Paul VI, Gianni Agnelli, just to name a few – and make it world-famous. That legendary place has recently been reborn as Hotel Giacomo Morra, part of the Accor group, though without a restaurant.

But let’s return to young Beppe. With such an apprenticeship, he was ready for the big leap. At just 18, like in a Paolo Conte song, he went to Genoa and boarded ships as a chef. It was the start of great adventures: Halifax, New York, Mexico, the Caribbean, Colombia – extravagant, lavish dishes, enormous fish. Hearing him recount those real culinary feats is like rewinding the tape of an epic film. After 8 years sailing the seas, he returned to Alba and opened, with his wife Domenica, the restaurant Da Beppe, which quickly became a go-to for locals and tourists alike. During truffle fair season, they would serve three sittings for lunch and three for dinner – with truffle the undisputed star: up to 10 kilos of white truffle shaved over the weekend. Even the Michelin Guide took note. But that wasn’t enough for Beppe Montanaro – he dreamed big. And in 1975, he founded Tartuflanghe with Domenica: he wanted to bring truffle to the whole world.

The new deal of truffle

Continuous innovation, thanks to the collaboration of his children: Paolo, a visionary creative much like Beppe must have been in his youth, constantly experimenting in the Piobesi headquarters (just a few kilometres from Guarene), who has developed cutting-edge technologies even in the pharmaceutical sector (e.g., for allergies and allergens); and Stefania, who shares her father’s passion for cooking and personally selects the truffles. Beppe, now 86, still inspects every truffle and is ever-present in the company. Among the innovations that made history: in 1990, the world’s first artisanal pasta with truffle inside rather than on top, awarded Best New Product of the Year at the 1992 Fancy Food Show in New York; truffle caviar – a cooked black truffle extract spherified into pearls, named Perlage, a revolutionary product inspired by Ferran Adrià’s molecular gastronomy that elevates black truffle (plentiful in the Langhe throughout the year), now a star of contemporary cuisine.

Tartuflanghe also created NoH2O®, the most advanced natural preservation system for prized truffles in the world – a cryo-drying process that preserves all organoleptic, nutritional and aromatic properties of every truffle variety, including Alba White Truffle. In 2015, their cryo-dried truffles were selected for astronaut nutrition during missions, in collaboration with Argotec. But that’s not all: in 2016 came the truffle crisps – a worldwide success; in 2022, truffle snacks and dried fruit – a democratic, bold, and pop innovation; and in 2024, the first aperitivo line of spreadable truffle-based products in tube format, awarded in Paris. And not only truffles: inspired by the cuisine of the historic Da Beppe restaurant, Bistrot75 offers jars of classic (and beyond) Piedmontese recipes, such as Chef Luciano Monosilio’s carbonara sauce, salsiccia and Barolo ragu, Castelmagno DOP fondue, cognà, and bunet. All produced in-house – including Tartuflot pasta and chocolates.

A few figures

Tartuflanghe has a turnover of €17 million, processes 15,000 kg of truffle per year, employs 50 people, exports to 67 countries, is present in the gourmet departments of the world’s top department stores, and supplies 80% of products to Maison de la Truffe, the iconic Parisian venue on Place de la Madeleine. All done with typically Piedmontese understatement, never losing sight of their roots or forgetting that it all began with a young cook who travelled the world but never forgot Alba, the Langhe, the truffle. You really do have to be hungry, visionary, and a little mad. Just like the langhetti, just like Beppe Montanaro.