Magazine
Golf & luxury living
Luxury StaysLuxury masserie in Apulia near golf: three towers and two alternatives
Three towers built to watch the sea, between the 15th and 16th centuries, are now luxury masserie in the Fasano area, and none was built for golfers. Yet today a nine-hole course among the olive trees and an 18-hole course by the sea lie right beside them.
7 min read
Food & WineWineries with a golf course
Ferruccio Lamborghini left tractors and cars for the vineyards of Panicale: the first vintage dates from 1975, the golf course from 1991. It is the most singular of the Italian estates where wine and greens share the same land.
6 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 Know-howGolf schools for children: where to start in Italy, from age 5
From age five at Villa d'Este, six at Courmayeur and Rovigo, eight at Chieti: the minimum age for joining a golf school changes from club to club, and it is worth knowing before choosing where to go on holiday with the children.
7 min read
Golf Know-howHow to book a tee time in Italy
On a club's website there is a form that promises a tee time, but in Venice that request only counts once the secretary's office confirms it. In Italy a tee time has at least four different routes, and it pays to know which applies where before choosing the course.
6 min read
Luxury StaysGolf hotels in Sicily: Verdura and Il Picciolo at the foot of Etna
The last Duke of Verdura was a cousin of the author of The Leopard, and every room in the resort holds a copy of the book. On the other side of the island, at the foot of Etna, the tees of one hole are set into the lava. Two five-star golf hotels, on opposite sides of the island.
6 min read
Luxury StaysGolf hotels in South Tyrol: ten addresses between Merano and the Sciliar
Karl “Schaly” Pichler, an innkeepers’ son, opened nine holes in 1996 in the valley where he was born. Today the course has eighteen, and around Merano there are ten hotels that use it, or its neighbours, as their home course.
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 CoursesPevero, Robert Trent Jones's course on the Costa Smeralda
The 16th hole at Pevero is a tribute to James Bond. The club ties it to 1962, the year the saga debuted on screen and, in its telling, the year the Costa Smeralda began.
6 min read
Golf Know-howPlaying golf in Italy as a foreigner: handicaps, cards, bookings
At Tiber in Rome you need a federation card to hit a single shot on the course; at Pevero, a maximum handicap of 54; at Tarvisio, if your handicap is above 45, you stay on the driving range. Every Italian club has its own entry rules, and knowing them before you leave saves you from turning up with your clubs and being left outside.
14 min read
Great CoursesPeter Gannon and the historic clubs of the North
Three clubs designed by Peter Gannon, Stresa, Villa d'Este and Milan, have together hosted 24 editions of the Italian Open. Who was the man who laid out the oldest courses in the North in the 1920s and 1930s?
5 min read
Golf TravelGolf holiday for couples: one plays, the other unwinds
At Terme di Saturnia, the course is treated with the water of the spring where the non-golfer bathes. Seven hotels where two people with different plans, 18 holes for one and a spa for the other, still end up together at dinner.
6 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
Food & WineThe nineteenth hole: the restaurants of Italian golf clubs
At La Mandria the club menu is split into a “Blue Route” and a “Yellow Route”, like the two eighteen-hole courses. It is not the only club where the table says something about the place: here is where the nineteenth hole is worth a reservation.
7 min read
Wellness & SpaSleep and performance on the course
Across 35,140 nights recorded with wearable devices, 389 professional golfers slept 7.2 hours on average, and those who slept longer and at more regular times finished their rounds with better scores. It is an association, not proof, but it shows where to look before a golf holiday.
4 min read
Great CoursesIs Molas: the hole shaped like Africa and four Italian Opens
At the 14th at Is Molas the green is almost surrounded by water and traces the outline of the African continent. For Baldovino Dassù, who won the first Italian Open played here in 1976, the advice is to fly over Cape Town.
6 min read
Wellness & SpaMuscle recovery after golf: what the research says and what hotels offer
Golfers who play without warming up are 3.2 times more likely to report an injury, according to the researchers behind a 2022 Dutch study protocol. The evidence on recovery after the round is subtler, and worth knowing before you place your trust in the spa.
4 min read
Style & GearGolf shoes on holiday: what to pack and which spikes you need
Metal spikes banned, soft spikes compulsory: at many Italian clubs the choice of shoes is not a matter of taste but of rules, written in black and white next to the dress code. Here is what the clubs actually say, and what to put in your suitcase.
5 min read
Luxury LivingArt near the golf courses: six museums not to miss
In 2026 the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona turns one hundred, and until 10 January 2027 an exhibition traces Carlo Scarpa's display design. It is one of six museums worth pairing with a golf course on rainy days, or on days of too much sun.
6 min read
Golf TravelFlying with a golf bag: the airline rules
On easyJet a golf bag counts as a «small» item of sports equipment and cannot exceed 20 kilograms, and adding it at the airport costs more than adding it online. Before you pack, it helps to know what you pay, where and how to avoid it.
4 min read
Luxury LivingGolf and horses: resorts with riding stables
About twenty school horses, Haflingers, Icelandics and warmbloods, in a stable with a 60 by 24 metre indoor arena: in the Passeier Valley, anyone who stops playing golf can be in the saddle straight away.
7 min read
Great CoursesItaly'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 StaysHotels with a golf course on site in Italy: twelve addresses
At Verdura, motor cars are banned within the resort; at Terme di Saturnia the turf is tended with spring water; in the Passeier Valley the first tee sits beneath the windows. Twelve Italian hotels where the golf bag never sees the boot of a car.
8 min read
Golf TravelGolf in Tuscany: Maremma, Chianti and Versilia
On 29 June 2025 Adrien Saddier won the Italian Open on a resort course above the Orbetello lagoon. Tuscan golf is not one landscape but three: the Maremma coast, the hills between Siena and Florence, and the shoreline between the Apuan Alps and San Rossore.
7 min read