Giulio the truffle hunter.com

Giulio is a third-generation truffle hunter. Born in the Piedmont region,

the "best place for food in the world," he says, Giulio never planned to do

anything other than truffle hunting. He spent several years studying to be a truffle hunter and then passed an exam to do so; all Italian truffle hunters must be certified to enter the forest and search.

Giulio has the Italian passion for life and food, punctuating his words by waving his hands and leaning on his heels as he speaks to us of the economics of truffles. "We're always looking to find different ways to make money," he says, explaining why he offers truffle hunting tours. There are two other truffle hunters who offer tours in the Tuscany region while the rest of the truffle hunters --- approximately 2,000 or so in Italy --- focus on gathering truffles and selling them at markets and directly to dealers. Giulio spends one day each week on a tour and the other six with his dog Edda, roaming the forest in search of the delicacy.

Edda is simply a beautiful dog, born and bred for this particular pursuit. Giulio whistles for her every morning and they head to the 500 hectacre forest near his home. He lets Edda off her lead and she sticks her nose to the ground. Every ten minutes or so, she hauls off, running as fast as any other dog would run to chase a rabbit or squirrel. But, she's chasing a scent. She's chasing the scent of a truffle she's found from up to 10 yards away.

At first, we didn't believe it: Edda suddenly sniffs, hales off, and Giulio runs quickly behind her to find the spot where she's pointing. The spot looks like any other spot in the forest to us, but if Giulio doesn't catch up to Edda in time, she will dig into the dirt and eat the truffle herself. He arrives and gives her a portion of her breakfast and, while she munches happily, he digs a shallow hole with a special trufflehunter's trowel. Within a few seconds, he has revealed what looks to us like a clod of dark dirt. He praises Edda and, if it is a particularly small truffle, will give it to