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The truffle is a soil fruit that has been known from time immemorial. The first certain news of the truffle appear in the Naturalis Hystoria of Pliny the Elder, whom classified it "among that things that grows and that cannot be sowed" but we have some evidences of its presence since the time of Jacob Patriarch about 1700 – 1600 a. C and in the diet of Sumerian people whom used it together with others vegetables such as barley, chickpea, lentil and mustard.

It is said that the ancient Athenian adored it to the point that they gave the nationality to the Cherippo's children, who had created a new recipe. The ancient Greeks called it Hydnon, from which it comes the term "idnologia" the science that studies truffles, or Idra. The Latin called it Tuber, TerraeTaber o Traffolae Terrae that is to say the soil swelling. The Arab Ramech Alchamech Tufus or Tomer e Kemas.

ith the passing of time the names increased: Turma de tierra o Cadilla de tierra for the Spanish people, truffe for the French, coming from the performance of Molière "Tartufe" in 1664 and then with the meaning of fraud for the English, in the end Hirstbrunst or Truffle for the German.

In the 1st Century a.C Plutarch of Cheronea handed on the belief that the precious underground mushroom grew from the combined action of water, heat and lightning. Hence various subsequent authors drew inspiration, by accepting different theories: Pliny, Martial, Galeno and the last Juvenal who qualified the precious mushroom as the fruit of the lightning thrown by Jupiter near an oak, the sacred tree of the father of Gods. Jupiter was also famous for its prodigious sexual activity, for this reason the truffle is characterised by aphrodisiac qualities. In fact among the ancient Greeks the use of stimulating foods was widespread: during the Dionysian festivals, for example, the Truffle were eaten together with eggs, honey, and shellfish in honour to Venus.

Since the science is not able to explain the exact origin of truffles, some popular beliefs appeared and created a glow of mystery around this fruit, to the point that they didn't know if to define it either a fruit or an animal. Someone considered it even as a degenerative outgrowth of the soil or worst the food of the devil and witches.

The time of the Communes and the Seigniory represents the gastronomic revival that will make both the white and black truffles the protagonists of the Renaissance food. In fact there weren't any limits to its use in the kitchen.

There are many anecdotes that involve some eminent personages of the time: from Caterina Dè Medici (who has the merits of having introduced the Truffle at the French Court ), to the wicked Lucrezia Borgia (who seemed to use it to increase her glamour).

The truffle always remained a highly valued food, above all in the tables of nobles and major prelates. According to some "scientists" of that period, its fragrance was a sort of "quintessence" that produced an ecstatic effect on the living being.

As to the renowned erotic properties of the truffle, a hormonal effect seems to consist in its strong smell. With time the science has made clear that the aphrodisiac effects of truffle are attached to the presence of fragrant substances that act at an olfactory level, not only in certain animals but also in the man, by stimulating a particular reawakening sense. Besides its wonderful fragrance, we have discovered that the truffle also acts through it aphrodisiac power at a metabolic level, since it is very rich in landrostenione, a substance that slow down the production of serotonin and then gives a certain serenity and calmness of senses.

In ‘700 all European Courts considered truffle as one of the most precious food. It is told that Count Camillo Benso di Cavour often offered it during his sumptuous dinners to favour his political activities; the musician Gioacchino Rossini defined it “the Mozart of Mushrooms”, Alexandre Dumas called it the "Sancta Sanctorum" of the table, lord Byron held it on his desk so that its fragrance could stimulate his creativity.

In spite of the various attempts to disclose the biological secret of Truffle, it's necessary to wait until 1831 and the Monographia Tuberacearum of Carlo Vittadini to have a scientific response: it will be defined an hypogeal mushroom.

The white truffle of Piedmont (namely the one of the Alba zone) has always been considered the most precious one, but only in ‘900 it has acquired a worldwide fame, thanks to the brilliant promotion carried out by Giacomo Morra, rightly crowned "the King of Truffle" in 1933 by Times of London. He guessed the possibility of making Truffle an object of gastronomic cult at an international level calling it "The Truffle of Alba", advertising it during the already consecrated Alba Fair with an exhibition of the best picked up truffles and making donation of it to the most famous personages of the time: from Rita Haywort to Winston Churchill, to Eisenhover to Nikita Krusciov, to Marilyn Monroe to Pope Paul VI.

In 1936 the VIII Alba Fair, by now called the Fair of Truffle, was inaugurated by Humbert of Savoy and in '37 by Pietro Badoglio. During the Exhibition this "underground fruit" was put besides the more vintage local wines, such as Barolo, Barbaresco e Asti champagne - type Wine.

In Autumn 2005, we created the Truffletherapy of ISHI, a new environment for the Truffle, but certainly in keeping with the rank and the value of this incomparable wonder of Nature incomparably precious for our senses and, since today, even for our beauty.