It is porcini season in Bagni di Lucca. They are in all the restaurants, proudly displayed in baskets.
If you drive along mountain roads you see cars parked and people scouring the forests for these delicious mushrooms. They grow well in chestnut and pine forests.
Porcini means piglet, perhaps because they look a bit like plump little piglets. They can grow to about 30 centimetres across and can weigh up to a kilo.
I have eaten risotto with porcini, pasta with porcini, fried porcini, grilled porcini and best of all fresh, raw porcini with a squeeze of lemon and black pepper. They have to be just picked for this to work well.
Autumn is here, bringing these delectable delights to eat.
This was what greeted me at my car this morning.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 
There is nothing better than porcini season in Italy. My favorite mushroom…I have seen one as big as a dinner plate on one of our visits.
The mushrooms are delicious when eaten fresh. We get the dried version in Australia, and they are OK, but not the same.
I totally agree…this flavor of the fresh ones is very different.
Funghi porcini and “nipitella” or calamintha nepeta, a wild variety of mint… the best combination!
I love that wild mint. It grows on the path to Vergemoli and if you step on it the delicious smell surrounds you.
Look at those! We only see them dried here!
I think I have read that they are starting to be grown in Victoria. They have chestnut forests there, so it should be possible.
Try this one: sliced porcini with mozarella and a bit of thymian and than a vieuw minutes in a hot oven!
I just happen to have some thyme growing on my balcony. I will certainly try this, thank you.
I love porcini and I usually find a lot of them around here in the autumn. But this year almost no mushroom and it is very strange. Lucky you.
We seem to have a good supply this autumn. The chestnuts are not doing so well though.
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They do look good…I wonder if we have those in our forests here!!
You should have them in France, perhaps they have another name.
What a gorgeous calling card Debra… I love autumn more than any other season. This post is just beautiful. Enjoy the wonderful porcini. Do you like them to eat as well?
I love porcini, especially when they are so fresh.
I would love to try those mushrooms freshly picked. Janine is right, autumn left you a lovely calling card. It’s been quite warm here today with ferocious wind.
Do I have to come home?
Well, I’ve heard it said you can have too much of a good thing!
Really?