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Italy's most beautiful golf courses: eighteen layouts
In 1978, at Pevero, Dale Hayes won the Italian Open with 293 strokes, five over par: according to the club it is still the highest winning score on the European circuit. The beauty of an Italian course rarely lies in its ease.
13 min read
Luxury StaysGolf hotels on Lake Garda: three addresses and twelve courses
In 1934 the Bogliaco course was sown with wheat, during the war it served as an airstrip, and the Americans played baseball on it. Today, on the same shore of Garda, there are courses open twelve months a year and three hotels to start from.
7 min read
Golf TravelItaly, Spain or Portugal for a golf holiday? The comparison
Spain has 496 courses and around 299,400 registered golfers, Portugal 88 courses and 18,499 registered players, Italy 232 clubs according to the 2019 federation figure. Different numbers mean different trips: here is how to choose, without cheering for anyone.
5 min read
Luxury StaysGolf hotels in Tuscany: Maremma, Argentario and Elba
Italy's only course licensed by PGA National sits in a resort above the Orbetello lagoon, and in 2025 it hosted the Italian Open. Several Tuscan hotels have a course on the doorstep, and one keeps it reserved for members.
6 min read
Great CoursesAcademies and performance centres: where to train on holiday
A 30-minute Trackman lesson is part of Verdura's Golf Inclusive offer, while in Appiano the training centre sits within the walls of a castle. Nine places in Italy where a golf holiday can also become a stretch of work on your game.
6 min read
Golf Know-howLearning golf on holiday
Twenty euros: that is what the Italian Golf Federation's GOLFPOP Card costs, with a lesson from a teaching professional, a membership card and insurance, and since 2026 it is the simplest way to give the game a try. After that come the clubs' courses and the hotels' packages, all the way to a first handicap.
5 min read
Golf TravelItaly's major golf tournaments to watch live
At its last staging in Milan, in 2017, the Italian Open drew 73,000 spectators. The tournament changes venue every year, and the course that hosts it can almost always be played the next day.
6 min read
Golf TravelGolf in Umbria and the Tuscia
Beneath the course at Antognolla lies a Benedictine crypt, at Panicale a tractor maker built nine holes on Lake Trasimeno, and at Tarquinia one hole runs beside Etruscan tombs. Six courses between Perugia and Viterbo.
8 min read
Golf TravelGolf holidays in Italy: the complete guide
Twelve Italian Opens at Villa d'Este, nine at Monza, seven at Monticello, three at GardaGolf: the story of the big tournaments is almost entirely Lombard, but Italian golf stretches all the way to Sicily, and choosing where to start is the hardest part.
15 min read
Luxury LivingYachts and golf on the Costa Smeralda
In 1967 the Aga Khan IV founded the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, five years before Pevero opened its first hole. Sea and fairway have watched each other ever since: here is how a week of sailing and a week of golf fit together.
5 min read
Luxury StaysGolf hotels in Venice and the Veneto: four bases, from the Lido to the Asolo hills
An Austrian fort serves as the clubhouse at Alberoni, a villa once owned by Robert Browning looks over the Asolo hills, and in Jesolo a 70-metre pool runs along the beach. This is how golfers in the Veneto sleep, and play.
7 min read
Luxury StaysCastles and medieval villages turned resorts
A fresco by Pietro Lorenzetti from 1345 stayed hidden under plaster until 1876, in a church a mile from a medieval village in Montalcino. Today the village is a hotel with a golf course: it is the first of eight historic residences for those who play.
9 min read
Golf TravelThe most convenient airports for a golf holiday in Italy
At Turin, about 22 minutes separate Caselle airport from the first tee at La Mandria; in Sicily, getting from Palermo to Verdura takes more than two hours. Before choosing a flight, look at the road.
7 min read
Wellness & SpaYoga and stretching for golfers: what the studies say and where to do it on holiday
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 am, free yoga and Pilates classes are held on the historic jetty of the Grand Hotel Fasano on Lake Garda: a golf-course habit that studies on stretching suggest approaching with caution.
4 min read
Golf TravelCar hire and transfers for golfers in Italy
To hire a car in Italy, according to the ACI, you need a credit card in the driver's name, and holders of a non-EU licence also need an international driving permit. But for a golfer the decisive question is a different one: car or transfer?
5 min read
Golf TravelGolf on Lake Maggiore: Stresa, the Borromean Islands and the courses
In 1927 Percy Alliss won the Italian Open on Mottarone, above Stresa, after a play-off in which he shot 67. That nine-holer is where a lake begins on which you play between the Alps, the islands and the villas.
8 min read
Golf TravelWhen to play golf in Italy: the region-by-region calendar
On 29 May the course at Courmayeur reopens, while Sestriere only plays from June; on 1 January Marco Simone is closed, while Rapallo plays all year round. Golf in Italy does not have a single season: it has one for every altitude.
14 min read
Great CoursesFranciacorta's golf courses compared
Between 35 and 105 euros: that is the gap, in the price lists published by the clubs, between an 18-hole round at Colombera on a weekday and one at Franciacorta Golf Club on a high-season weekend. Four courses compared between Brescia and Bergamo, with the choice based on the kind of day you want.
6 min read
Luxury LivingMilan between fashion and golf: three days of shop windows and fairways
Armani/Silos is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and on Mondays Tolcinasco, Molinetto, Zoate and Carimate close too. To combine a fashion city with its golf courses, start from the calendar, not the shop windows.
6 min read
Golf TravelGolf in Rome and Around, from the Ryder Cup to Acquasanta
In 1944, the club says, Allied bombers spared a German camp on the Almone because destroying the only 18-hole course south of Florence would have been madness. That course is still there, and today it shares the city with the one that hosted the 2023 Ryder Cup.
9 min read
Golf Know-howGetting ready for a week of golf: fitness, pace and habits
Four hundred metres of elevation change in a single round at Carezza, between four and a half and five hours at Asiago: seven days of golf are a small physical feat, and it pays to prepare a few weeks ahead.
5 min read
Golf Know-howGolf carts in Italy: when you need one and what they cost
Between €44 and €60: the price of a golf cart for 18 holes at ten Italian clubs, according to 2026 price lists. When renting one really makes sense, who may drive it and the rules to know before you climb aboard.
5 min read
Food & WineMichelin-starred restaurants near golf courses
A two-star restaurant with only five tables, a 15-metre window over the Merano basin and, half an hour away by car, a nine-hole course beneath a castle. Five starred tables, all inside a hotel with a course within reach of a tee time.
7 min read
Luxury StaysWhere to stay near Milan for a golf trip
At the Golf Hotel in Lainate, a few kilometres from Milan, all 34 rooms are on the same floor: one side looks over the course, the other over the pool. It is one of the ways Milan's clubs solve the night, alongside lodges, residences and grand hotels on the lakes.
7 min read
Luxury StaysGolf resort or city hotel? Pros and cons
Walking from your bed to the first tee, or returning to a city after the round: at La Meridiana in Garlenda the course is a walk away, while from the Excelsior on the Lido it takes about 20 minutes by car, and a free shuttle runs to St Mark's.
5 min read