On a mauve-smeared morning in the wine-producing Langhe Hills of Piedmont, where soft grey mists hang in vine-strung valleys, I’m striking out into woods with a young female trifulau (truffle hunter), Marta Menegaldo, and her Lagotto Romagnolo pup, Luna.

With the snap of hazel twig underfoot, and the raspy chatter of a magpie above us, we follow Luna as she cuts a rapid zig-zag through brambles and thickets of wild hazel and chestnut, on the quest for a certain mushroomy aroma.