Truffle hunting in Italy: Diana the truffle hound

A couple of days ago we crossed the Apennines from Tuscany to go to Romagna to visit our main truffle hunter Serafino. Although Bernardo has been there regularly in the past four weeks, this was my first trip to Serafino's house. I will write about our day in due course, but the most exciting part (apart from seeing his freshest truffles in the morning which we weighed out and sent off to two of our restaurants) was when he took us out hunting after lunch. Since nothing is possible without the trusty truffle hound, place of honour in this blog must go to Diana, the dog that came with us. A 6-year-old La Gotto Romagnolo, Diana is a sweet and enthusiastic dog with a sharp nose for the truffles, who punctuated her search for truffles with pauses to bound over to us for cuddles and pats...