The best day of the Truffle Fair in Alba? The Baccanale!

We mentioned it two weeks ago… the two-day Baccanale event at Alba, in our opinion, are the best days of the Fair. And this year too we weren’t proven wrong. The Baccanale turned out to be the most fun event of the Fair. Yet again.

Magnare (Eating)

At the Baccanale, you eat.  Or you ‘magna’ (dialect for eating) if you prefer. Some of the stands have now become permanent: the Brichett’s egg in the pan with the truffles, roast pork from the Borgo Moretta, the Bagasse.

This year there was also grilled meat from San Lorenzo and fried bread and buns with lard and/or bacon from Patin e Tesor.

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There were also arrosticini (lamb skewers) in piazza Falcone, buns with sausage  in Piazza Garibaldi and truffle Tajarin pasta in Piazza Rossetti. The prices vary: starting from 2-3 euro for fried bread nuggets to 8 euro for grilled ribs and sausages. I will not mention the ‘arrosticini’ going for 1 euro a piece because  the price has not been confirmed by official sources.

The Games

Another essential element of the Baccanale is the games. They are mainly skill-games such as fishing bottles with a fishing rod, throwing balls against pseudo-pins or inside holes, throwing rings on bottles  or inflating a balloon by jumping on a donkey (don’t ask me how this  works…).

These are just a few examples, there are dozens of various games scattered throughout the city.

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The trick of the game is that the prizes are bottles of wine:  any chance you may have of winning early in the evening considerably begins to drop after winning (and drinking) a prize (a bottle), or after stopping at 2 or 3 food stands.

You could almost say that your chances of winning are inversely proportional to the time spent at the Baccanale.

Some Information

The Borghi (districts) that organize the Baccanale  are self-financed:  they do not receive any public funds, however since they face very high costs for organizing some of the key days of the Fair such as the investiture of the mayor, the parade and the Palio race, the Baccanale event is an essential moment for raising the funds needed to maintain the  historical clothes, flags, musical instruments, etc. An inside source, an insider who wishes to remain anonymous, told us that this year was perhaps the best year as far as attendance and participation is concerned.

It is believed that an incredible amount of eggs were cooked. We can’t give the exact number for reasons of public order, you’ll have to trust us. But I assure you that there were quite a lot of them!

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I think one of the reasons why the Baccanale  is always so successful is because it is organized by people who sacrifice much of their time to support their district with passion: this is perhaps a good reason to participate in this event, knowing that every euro spent will somehow make its way back to the city.

In conclusion

If you missed this year’s Baccanale, try not to miss next year’s. It really is the most cheerful moment of the Fair: a playful event, perhaps a bit boisterous, but still a lot of fun.

Finally, I’d like to make a little plea. Bruno Icardi from the  Brichett district, our “anonymous insider”, confessed that one of the biggest problems is the lack of young people who are interested in participating in these events. If you’re from this area, think about participating: I was a flag-waver in San Lorenzo and I can honestly say that the “borgo  life” can be great fun.

p.s. the pictures you see on this page were taken from # lovetartufo14 competition that is taking place on  instagram. You still have time to participate and to win 6 bottles of wine!
Use #lovetartufo14 and #lovelanghe for your pics on Instagram to tell yout personal truffle fair!