What is Acqualagna known for?

Roughly two-thirds of Italy's white truffle production passes through Acqualagna, traded across three annual fairs from February through November. Limestone gorge upstream of town, cut by the Candigliano river, where Vespasian's Roman tunnel still carries the old Via Flaminia. Sixth-century battle between Totila's Ostrogoths and Narses's Byzantines on the plain below the gorge, which gave the town its name.

Acqualagna is a comune in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche region of Italy, about 98 kilometers from Rimini.

Marche · Pesaro e Urbino

Acqualagna

The Italian truffle capitalin the Metauro valley, supplying two-thirds of the country's white truffle harvest from the surrounding limestone woods.

98 km / 61 mi

Nearest hub (Rimini)

4,151

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Acqualagna sitsin the Metauro valley, twelve kilometers from Urbino and just downstream from the Gola del Furlo, the limestone gorge where Vespasian cut a 38-meter tunnel through Monte Pietralata in 76 AD to carry the Via Flaminia toward Rome. The town accounts for roughly two-thirds of Italy's white truffle production. Three fairs anchor the calendar: black truffle on the last Sunday of February, summer black on the last Sunday of July, white truffle across the last weekend of October and the two that follow. The Roman city of Pitinum Mergens stood nearby until Alaric's Goths destroyed it; the survivors founded Montefalcone, the castle from which today's village grew. The name Acqualagna comes from Aqua Lanea, water of slaughter, after the sixth-century battle between Totila's Ostrogoths and the Byzantine general Narses on the plain below the gorge.

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Gallery

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Known for

Gola del Furlo
Limestone gorge between Monte Paganuccio (977 m) and Monte Pietralata (888 m), with Vespasian's 38-meter Roman tunnel cut for the Via Flaminia in 76 AD.
Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Furlo
Medieval Benedictine monastery on the slopes above the gorge, one of the oldest religious foundations in the Metauro valley.
Riserva Naturale Statale Gola del Furlo
Nature reserve established in 2001, covering 3,600 hectares of woodland, grazing land and ridgeline above the Candigliano river.
Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco
Held the last weekend of October and the two following, the central event in the Italian white truffle trade.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months for Acqualagna. The Metauro hills hold their green, the woods around Monte Paganuccio are open for walking, and summer truffle season turns the piazzas over to tasting tables in late July. July and August touch the high twenties; the gorge stays cooler than the valley floor. The town's biggest weeks fall in late October and early November when the white truffle fair runs across three weekends and the population doubles. November through March is quiet, cold and damp, but the truffle markets keep running through black season and the gorge in winter mist is the photograph most visitors leave with.