Engage your senses and discover one of Italy's most sought-after specialty products on a private truffle hunt in Bellagio. Hike through family land on the Lake Como shores with local chef Luigi Gandola and his trained truffle-sniffing dog on a search for the rare, fragrant tubers and wild mushrooms. Take the harvest back to a Bellagio restaurant, where the chef will whip up a gourmet meal featuring truffle and mushroom dishes with wine, prepared just for your party.

Hunt for wild truffles and mushrooms on a private family estate in Bellagio
Learn how to find and dig up the prized tubers with a local chef and his skilled dog
Savor a truffled-based meal paired with Lombardy wines
Private, one-of-a-kind experience for a memorable Lake Como meal

Sample Menu

Main

truffle risotto

Main

tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms

What's Included

Port pickup car ferry 10:00 am in the morning
Lunch
Snacks
Bottled water
Coffee and/or Tea
Alcoholic Beverages

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Bellagio
P.za Giuseppe Mazzini, 38, 22021 Bellagio CO, Italy
See you at the car ferry

Start time

Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.

Opening hours

6/8/2018 - 12/31/2023
Monday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Wednesday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Thursday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Friday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Saturday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Sunday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
1/1/2024 - 12/31/2024
Monday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Wednesday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Thursday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Friday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Saturday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm
Sunday : 10:00 am - 06:00 pm

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Infant meals not included

Minimum drinking age is 18 years
Dress code is formal
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Traveller Photos

Reviews

4.5

8 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-5 of 8 reviews

Unique, authentic experience!

Taylor_G, Aug 2023

This was such a fun day. My husband Jakub and I were picked up in Bellagio by Chef Luigi. He brought us up to his sister and brother in law's home. There we met them, his niece, and all four of their dogs! We then headed up the hill with the main truffle dog: Sherlock, and his daughter Rosa, who was in training. It was a workout! You go into the woods and up some pretty steep hills. You'll want sneakers and appropriate clothing. If you're looking for a thorough education on truffle hunting, this isn't it. This is a real family, with their family dogs, taking you under their wing and throughout their property. It's so intimate, unique, and unlike anything we've done. It was very cool watching Sherlock hunt and dig up the truffles. They had to be grabbed out of his mouth before he could eat them, haha. We ended up finding a ton of truffles! Then, we were driven down to the Ristorante Salice Blu, where we joined a cooking class already in progress. From there we got to make pasta and ragu before sitting down to an amazing dinner that featured our truffles. Chef Luigi is a character. He's hilarious and passionate. He will tease you throughout the day. When you're cooking, it's in his open, active restaurant. You really get a peek into what this restaurant kitchen is like. His wife Camilla runs the restaurant with him. She is so sweet, knowledgable and a joy to chat with. His Mom was also in the kitchen helping with some of our more helpless pasta makers. It's a real family affair, and the restaurant is their family legacy. Chef Luigi and his entire family really take you into their lives for the day. It's such a unique and personal experience. This is all without mentioning that the food was amaaaaaazing. It's a lot of food, and you can have seconds. (Which of course, we did.) Also, I'm still thinking about the rosemary limoncello they make themselves.

We had a wonderful time...

samira_r, Nov 2022

We had a wonderful time with Chef Luigi family , great hospitality, very inviting and kind family . We enjoyed all the meal courses that shef prepared for us , very tasty and delicious, we highly recommend them .

Response from Host, Nov 2022

Hello!! Thank you so much for visit our experience see you next time!!

Fun and adventurous experience for foodies

Michelle_N, Aug 2022

This experience was by far the best thing we’ve done on our trip in Italy. Chef Luigi picked us up in Bellagio and we drove up to the forest for truffle foraging. His dog Charlotte is SO friendly, adorable, and smart. She found 7 truffles that day! The forest is a little steep and you’re definitely on a bit of a hike that makes you sweat, but it wasn’t super intense. Although I would not recommend it for elderly people or people who don’t have good footing. There is no trail so you’re actually hiking up into the forest with no flat land or places to rest. We thought it was a nice work out before lunch! After an hour of truffle foraging, we went up to Luigi’s home and farm which was very quaint. Then we did a quick drive to his restaurant where we waited for the rest of the cooking class to arrive. The cooking class was really fun, especially with Chef Luigi’s humor and big personality. We were treated with a couple of glasses of wine during class. Afterwards, we all sat at a big table outside under a lovely gazebo where we were treated to several more glasses of wine and all the food we made in the class. The food was divine and we were super stuffed by the end of it. Thank you so much Chef Luigi for an amazing day. We’ve already recommended this experience to several of our friends who are visiting Italy within the next few months. If we come back to Lake Como I would do it all over again. Special thanks to his amazing dog Charlotte, the true hero of the day for finding so many truffles. I still think about her and miss her.

Response from Host, Sept 2022

So great !! We miss you

Great experience

Evan_H, June 2019

Chef Luigi provided a wonderful experience for our family (5 adults, and 2 kids). He was great with the kids (ages 9 and 6) and I couldn't have asked for more concerning the day.

Response from Host, June 2019

So beautiful to see your beautiful email! I hope to see you soon again

Very disappointed!

755kathryns, June 2019

Viator  Hello, On Friday, May 24, 2019, I took your Private Hunting of Truffle and Mushrooms with Chef Luigi Gandola in Bellagio. Hunting for truffles has been on my bucket list for years so I was very excited to take this tour. It was the only reason that I signed up. Luigi picked me up at 10 am along with four other people and drove us to his restaurant where we started with a tour of his gardens. ( The tour description said that we would hunt truffles and mushrooms first and then have lunch prepared by Luigi, but he had already been out to the woods early that morning and brought back several porcini mushrooms - no truffles ). Then we had a cooking class where we learned to make pasta and a few other Italian dishes. This took a few hours and then the five of us sat at a table out on the patio and waited for lunch to be served. By the time we finished it was 2pm, and I'm thinking "when are we going to hunt truffles?" Apparently, the other four people had signed up for a cooking class only, which left me to hunt alone. It was already late and I was wondering what was going to happen next. Luigi drove them back to their hotels, leaving me at the restaurant to wait for his return. I had told him that I needed to be back to my car by 4 pm to pay more money at the meter so that I wouldn't get a ticket. He returned and I sat waiting. As it turned out he was digging up dirt with a backhoe, loading it into an old farm truck! I didn't pay for this part! FINALLY, around 3pm, Luigi, his assistant Paolo and I climbed into this 35 year old junky farm truck filled with tools and tool boxes and headed for the woods on Luigi's family property. First, we collected eggs from the chickens, stopped by his sister's home on the property and THEN went to the woods. The terrain was so very steep that most times I couldn't stand or walk without holding onto trees and my mind was more on staying upright than looking for mushrooms. Paolo had to grab me a few times to keep me from sliding down the hill!! I am an active, 71 year old woman, but this was not fun! I finally got back to my car around 4:15 pm after a disappointing day with no truffles. Luigi told us that this wasn't a good time for them to be found. This tour should not have been advertised as a 'truffle hunting' adventure when there were none to be found. I shouldn't have had to ride in a junky old truck alone with two men and spend six hours of my day doing something that I paid a LOT of money