A chair by Vico Magistretti takes its name from a golf club: the “Carimate” was born from the clubhouse restaurant the architect was designing. Italian design has left similar traces in the hotels where you sleep between rounds.
Italian design is usually sought in museums and trade fairs. In luxury hotels with a golf course you find it without a ticket: in a swimming pool designed just after the war, in a village built to look like a fishing hamlet, in the chair of a clubhouse. Here are eight addresses where the architecture and interiors carry a precise signature, from Gio Ponti to Olga Polizzi.
A chair born in a clubhouse: Carimate
The Golf Club Carimate, 18 holes in the park of the Castello di Carimate, has a surprising design story: Vico Magistretti conceived the famous “Carimate” chair, later produced by Cassina, starting from the clubhouse restaurant he was designing together with Veneziani. It is the clearest case of a golf course giving its name to a classic of Italian furniture.
Sanremo: Gio Ponti's swimming pool
In 1948 Gio Ponti presented the seawater pool that is still the signature of the Royal Hotel Sanremo. He introduced it with a line that has remained famous: “I hate rectangular swimming pools. Are lakes and rivers perhaps rectangular?” The water is heated to 27 °C and the pool is open from April to October, in a subtropical park of 16,000 square metres. The five-star hotel, which opened in 1872, also preserves the Fiori di Murano decorations, designed by Mario Bertolini, then the owner of the hotel. The reference course is the Circolo Golf degli Ulivi.
Costa Smeralda: three hotels, three architects
The Costa Smeralda is a manual of 1960s architecture, and three of its hotels spell it out through the names of their designers.
- Hotel Cala di Volpe: designed between 1961 and 1963 by Jacques Couëlle, whom Jacques Prévert called “l'anarchitetto”, as a small seaside village in stone and rough plaster. The 121 rooms have limewashed walls, painted trompe-l'œil and hand-decorated furniture.
- Hotel Pitrizza: designed by Luigi Vietti in 1963, who described it as a hotel that “cannot be seen from the sea, from the land or from the sky, because everything blends together so naturally”.
- Romazzino: inaugurated in 1965 by Aga Khan IV, it is the work of Michele Busiri Vici, with white walls, curving lines and arched windows.
The shared golf reference is the Pevero Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1972.
Olga Polizzi: Rocco Forte's interiors in Sicily and Apulia
When people talk about interior design in a luxury hotel, one name keeps coming back: Olga Polizzi, sister of Sir Rocco and design director. She created the interiors of the Verdura Resort (opened in 2009; the seafront suites were redesigned in 2026) and those of Masseria Torre Maizza, in a sixteenth-century masseria with hand-embroidered linens, wood, Trani stone in the bathrooms and the original vaults. At Verdura the course is the Verdura Golf Club, 45 holes by Kyle Phillips.
A dragonfly in the Maremma
The Argentario Golf & Wellness Resort opened in 2008 in a building shaped like a dragonfly, with interiors by the Milanese designer Andrea Fogli. All 73 rooms and suites have a private terrace overlooking the course, with the Orbetello lagoon in the background. The course hosted the Italian Open in June 2025.
Art on the walls: the Marlena
It is not “design” in the strict sense, but the Parkhotel Marlena in Marlengo, South Tyrol, is a case apart: the owner Hans Inderst declares that art is his great passion, and the rooms hold works by Luis Stefan Stecher, Marcello Jori and Rudolf Stolz, while the indoor pool has a three-dimensional wall by Stecher. The two panoramic saunas were designed by the architect Marlen Inderst.
Curiosities
- James Bond at Cala di Volpe. In the 1977 film “The Spy Who Loved Me”, James Bond and agent Anya stay at the Hotel Cala di Volpe; at nearby Pevero the 16th hole is dedicated to Bond.
- Villas named after the coast. At Romazzino the five three-bedroom villas are called Marinella, Capriccioli, Principe, Caprera and Pevero.
- A record-breaking pool, according to the hotel. The Cala di Volpe has an Olympic-size saltwater pool that, according to the hotel, is the largest in Europe.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the swimming pool of the Royal Hotel Sanremo?+
Gio Ponti, who presented it in 1948: a seawater pool heated to 27 °C, open from April to October.
Who designed the Hotel Cala di Volpe?+
Jacques Couëlle, between 1961 and 1963, as a small seaside village in stone and rough plaster.
Who designed the interiors of the Verdura Resort?+
Olga Polizzi, design director of the Rocco Forte group, who also created the interiors of Masseria Torre Maizza.
What is the “Carimate” chair?+
A chair designed by Vico Magistretti and produced by Cassina, named after the Golf Club Carimate: the idea came from the clubhouse restaurant the architect was designing.
Who designed Romazzino?+
Michele Busiri Vici; the hotel was inaugurated in 1965 by Aga Khan IV.
Which hotel is shaped like a dragonfly?+
The Argentario Golf & Wellness Resort, in Porto Ercole, with interiors by Andrea Fogli.
