A pair of white truffles weighing a total of 950 grams have been sold for €90,000 ($120,000) to a Hong Kong buyer during the World Alba White Truffles Auction in Grinzane Cavour in northwestern Italy. A “famous Chinese writer” bidding by satellite telephone fiercely outbid competitors, paying three times the price of gold for this white delicacy. This two white truffles along with other nine pieces reached a total of €274,200 ($368,300) at auction, which also saw an unnamed buyer snap up a 305-gram specimen to be given as a gift to New York’s new mayor, Italo-American Bill De Blasio.
According to organiser, the sums raised at the 14th edition of the White Truffle of Alba auction will be given to the Piedmont Foundation for Cancer Research and go toward the purchase of a CAT scanner for the “San Lazzaro” hospital in Alba, while the funds raised by the Hong Kong sale will go to the Mother’s Choice institute which cares for orphans and mothers in difficulty.
