Our truffle journey began with a dog...

The first glimpse of our future puppy was in a video emailed from Sicily.  He was white with brown markings resembling swim trunks, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Britches"  aka Rico.

Rico was born on the summer solstice, his mother was named Gaia, and he was from a long lineage of Sicilian truffle hunting dogs. His passion for truffle hunting was evident from the first time we saw him eagerly retrieving his truffle-filled "bolsa" bag. No wonder he was such a successful truffle hunter.

Look at those eyes!

Rico quickly won our hearts.  His passion became our passion. We immersed ourselves and gathered all possible knowledge about his breed, the Lagotto Romagnolo, as well as truffle training techniques, and of course, truffles themselves.  

We were excited to learn that truffle cultivation and orchards were becoming more popular in the United States. However, most of the orchards were too young to produce truffles. So how were we going to satisfy our truffle dog? We decided to take Rico to the first Napa Truffle Festival. Rico immediately ran to and almost knocked over the ice chest that held his favorite scent, tuber melanosporum! He was in heaven, and since he was the only dog there, he had all those delicious aromas to himself.

After many muddy boots and dirty paws, Rico finally found his first US cultivated tuber melanosporum! Then he found two, three, and now too many to try and keep track of. There are now many more to discover!

A few years after Rico arrived in the US, he had a date with a beautiful Lagotto. We have one of their daughters, Zara. Zara is a fervent and very successful truffle hunter, thanks to Rico's patient tutelage and our ongoing training with her. Zara was named after Rico's hometown in Sicily.