Included in the stay. Eat properly, this is the long day: fair entry is 10:30 and the plan is to leave Turin by 9:00.

1 · Piazza San Paolo, underground, 325 spaces, open 24h, edge of the old town. €1/hr 08:00-20:00, €10.70 a day max. Height limit reported 2.00 m and the van is ~1.9 m: check the real height on the rental papers.

2 · Centro Stazione, Piazza Trento e Trieste 3, by the train station. 390 spaces, open 24h.

3 · Free INAIL lot by Piazza Urbano Prunotto, open for the fair 8 to 19 Oct. Across the river, longer walk.

The reason to be here this week. Entry slot is 10:30 to 11:30, so be at the Cortile della Maddalena gate at 10:30 and use the full window: about 1h45 in the market hall before walking over for the 12:45 lunch. Smell everything, eat tajarin al tartufo if you can find it. The wine-tasting coupon comes with a glass and a neck carrier, and producers from Barolo, Barbaresco and the wider Langhe pour at stations around the market. Includes MUDET, the truffle museum.

3 Michelin stars, Enrico Crippa. Set aside three hours, this is the meal of the trip.

Penny, Corso Piave 70, Alba. On the route to Barolo, ~1.3 km from the car park.

Carrefour Market, Corso Piave 94, Alba. 200 m further, bigger.

In Barolo, on foot: bakery Dal Forno dei F.lli Cravero, Via Roma 63, and a butcher on Via Roma, both a couple of minutes from La Giolitta. Eggs not guaranteed.

Two nights here. Drop the bags and the truffle before anything else: Borgogno, the Castello and dinner are all a few minutes on foot from the door, so the car goes away for the night and doesn't come out again. Quiet, family-run, walking distance to everything.

ZTL: La Giolitta is on Via Cesare Battisti, inside Barolo's permanent camera-gated pedestrian area. Follow the B&B's route: Piazza Cabutto (Via Roma) or Piazza Colbert (Via Alba), through Piazza Municipio to the Post Office, unload, then move the car. Email info@lagiolitta.it the rental plate so they can register it. Do not leave the car in Piazza Caduti per la Libertà: it sits inside the Sunday closure and would be stuck until 19:00.

Giacomo Borgogno & Figli, in the village since 1761, and the one house in Barolo that still sits on a deep library of old Riserve rather than selling them on release. Walk into the shop and ask for the Riserva library: 1982 is the vintage to ask for, a great structured year that by now is fully resolved. Ask the price before anything gets opened, library bottles are priced vintage by vintage, and expect to buy the bottle rather than taste it by the glass unless they happen to have one open. If the 1982 is the point of the stop, ring ahead so they can have it ready. Bags are already at La Giolitta by now, so whatever you buy walks straight home with you.

Not a restaurant, a wine shop with a counter, 3,500 labels, and plates of salumi, local cheeses, hazelnuts and grissini. You order what you want and nothing more: a glass and a cheese plate is a complete evening here, while the guys can keep ordering. After three hours at Piazza Duomo and an afternoon in the village, this is the honest scale of dinner. In the village, so we walk.

No breakfast at La Giolitta, so Angel is making it. Keep it light, the 5-course lunch at Marchesi di Barolo starts at 11:00.

The historic estate (since 1807) that gave Barolo its name. Beautiful cellars, gracious staff. Done around 14:00.

~2 hr: a short intro on truffles, then through vineyards and hazelnut groves to the tartufaia woods to follow the dog. Mixed group of up to 15, with an English translator. Meet 14:50 sharp at the small parking space under the chimney of the ex brick factory, La Morra (10 min from Marchesi di Barolo). Trekking shoes, the ground is uneven and can be muddy; rubber boots rent for €3.50 a pair. Any truffle found stays with the dog, but you can buy fresh truffle after.

Brezza wouldn't take a booking, but nothing here needs one and nothing here needs the car. Back from La Morra around 17:00: Barolo centre is closed to cars on Sundays 10:00-19:00, so park at Piazza Cabutto, Colbert or Enotria and walk. Do not drive up Via Roma or Via Alba to Piazza Municipio. Brezza first, 6 min away and open Sunday 19:00 to 21:00: turn up at 19:00 sharp and a walk-in is a fair bet. If they're full, Barolo Friends by the castle runs Sunday 18:00 to 23:00, a wine bar doing plates and glasses rather than a sit-down, which after Marchesi at 11:00 is probably the honest size of dinner anyway. La Vite Turchese is the third door, and since we're eating there Saturday night, ask them then whether they open Sunday. Locals know what's shut.

Last one at La Giolitta, then check out. La Spinetta is 10:30 and the drive east is ~40 min, so on the road by 09:30.

Husband-pick. The rhino-label cellar in Castagnole delle Lanze. Booked the "In Piedmont: The Queen and the King" visit, Barbaresco and Barolo side by side. Allow ~90 min.

Antiné is shut for renovation, this is four doors up the same street. Family-run trattoria by the medieval tower, fresh pasta daily (tajarin, ravioli del plin), and a proper list of local producers. In the village, so we walk: no driver, everyone drinks, and the Enoteca Regionale is a two-minute stroll after.

Family-run B&B right in the village, so the car goes away straight after lunch and the afternoon is on foot. Walking distance to Antica Torre, the Enoteca Regionale, and the church-tower viewpoint over the vineyards.

1 Michelin star, panoramic dining room overlooking Barbaresco hills. 10 min from the village. Closed Tue/Wed, Monday is open.

Included in the stay. Cascina delle Rose is not until 11:00 and it is the same commune, so this is the one genuinely slow morning of the trip.

Natural-leaning Barbaresco with Giovanna Rizzolio, visit-only (no overnight, 3-night min for stays). Max 8 guests per visit. Generous and unhurried, the kind of morning you remember.

If energy's there, drive into the centro, park at APCOA Riva Reno, Via del Rondone 2 (outside the ZTL, open 24h, 2.00 m height limit, €3/hr, tel 051 4222114), walk through Quadrilatero, Piazza Maggiore, the Due Torri base. ~90 min on foot. Or skip it and do a vineyard walk + a glass on the terrace.

The one stay where breakfast is not confirmed. Ask the property. Either way be done by 09:00: it is 3.5 hr south and ColleMassari is 16:00.

P1 Via degli Archi, 220 spaces, €1.70/hr, cash or card. Backup: Via Mencatelli or Via San Gregorio, both €1.70/hr.

Organic Sangiovese estate. Ask for the Poggio Lombrone, their flagship riserva.

Two nights on the estate. Dinner at the on-site restaurant is bundled into the €60 with the afternoon tasting, the wines come right from below. The steal of the trip.

Included, on the estate. Poggio di Sotto is 10:30 over at Castelnuovo dell'Abate, so leave with a good hour in hand.

Castelnuovo dell'Abate, on the hill above Sant'Antimo, so the abbey stop after is a 5-min hop. One of the most iconic traditional Brunello estates, 20 ha organic, same ColleMassari group as your Wed/Thu stay. Tasting in English, allow ~90 min, then the abbey.

Parcheggio Viale Strozzi, Via Pietro Strozzi 1, €2/hr or €8 a day. 5-10 min walk up, with stairs.