Historic villas turned hotels, with a golf course nearby

A villa that was once a private home has an advantage over hotels built to be hotels: it has history inside it. For golfers there is a practical side as well: in some cases the course is only a few kilometres away, and in one it even shares a boundary with the hotel.

Seven historic residences and their courses

Seven villas and hunting lodges, each tied to a course. Only Villa Arzaga borders a course, and only Villa d'Este has taken back, in 2024, a club of its own. For the others golf is a concierge service or a list of recommended courses.

Villa d'Este: a cardinal and a course brought back home

The villa was built in 1568 as the summer residence of Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio, designed by Pellegrino Pellegrini, known as Il Tibaldi; between 1815 and 1820 it belonged to Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales, and since 1873 it has been a hotel. It has 151 rooms in a ten-hectare park and a swimming pool that floats on the lake, opened in 1966.

The Circolo Golf Villa d'Este, at Montorfano, about 14 km from Cernobbio, was designed by Peter Gannon in 1926: 5,760 metres, par 69, twelve Italian Opens. The hotel owned it until the end of the 1970s and bought it back in 2024. The 2026 golf package, valid from 21 March to 21 November with a two-night minimum, includes breakfast, an 18-hole green fee, a golf cart and club hire. Play runs from March to December, every day except Tuesday.

Villa e Palazzo Aminta: Stresa and nine affiliated clubs

The villa was built in 1872 as the residence of the merchant Edoardo Horst; in 1886 it passed to Giacomo della Torre, who named it after his daughter Aminta, and since 1950 it has been a hotel. In 1966 Liz Taylor and Richard Burton chose it for a getaway: today a suite bears the actress's name.

The hotel lists nine affiliated clubs, and the concierge books the green fees. The two closest are 5 km away: the Golf des Iles Borromées, 18 holes, par 72, 6,122 metres, at about 600 metres above sea level, with 2026 green fees of 70 euros on weekdays and 85 at weekends and on public holidays; and the Golf Alpino on Mottarone, nine holes, par 69, host of the first three editions of the Italian Open, with 2026 promotional rates of 50 and 60 euros for 18 holes. The terms of the affiliation should be requested from the hotel.

Villa Cipriani: Browning's house in Asolo

The English poet Robert Browning bought the villa in 1889; in 1962 it was acquired by Rupert Guinness, who in the 1960s entrusted it to Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry's Bar. Since 2012 it has belonged to Massimo Zanetti. It has 28 rooms and a garden that Historic Hotels Worldwide has included among the ten most beautiful of its hotels.

The nearest course, according to the hotel, is the Asolo Golf Club, 12 km away: 27 holes on three par-36 courses and, since 2003, the first federation Academy in Italy. The hotel has no golf packages or declared services.

Villa Arzaga: the course beside the fifteenth-century residence

The QC Grand Hotel Villa Arzaga occupies a 15th-century Renaissance residence with marble staircases and frescoes, and adjoins Arzaga Golf: 27 holes, the 18 by Jack Nicklaus II (par 72) and the 9 by Gary Player (par 36). The club is run by a different company from the hotel, and green fees are paid at the golf club: in 2026, 110 euros on weekdays and 130 at weekends from 16 March to 8 November, 65 and 80 in winter. The club's Stay & Play packages include accommodation at Borgo Drugolo, not in the villa.

L'Albereta, Fasano and Fragsburg: the other three

L'Albereta, at Erbusco, is a neo-Renaissance villa of the late 19th century that opened as a hotel on 23 September 1993; the nearby Franciacorta Golf Club (27 holes by Pete Dye and Marco Croze) lists it among its partner hotels. The Grand Hotel Fasano, at Gardone Riviera, was built in 1888 as a hunting lodge for the House of Austria and has been a national monument since 1989; it names Bogliaco, which opened in 1912, Gardagolf and Arzaga as its courses, but has no packages. In 2026 the summer green fee at Bogliaco is 76 euros on weekdays and 97 at weekends and on public holidays. Castel Fragsburg, dating from 1624, has twenty suites and recommends Passiria and Lana, about half an hour away.

When to go

It depends on the course. Montorfano plays from March to December; Arzaga and Bogliaco are open all year; the Grand Hotel Fasano reopened on 27 March 2026 and closes on 6 January 2027.

Curiosities

• A set for Hitchcock. In 1925 Alfred Hitchcock shot several scenes of The Pleasure Garden at Villa d'Este.
• A general and the "Pelusina". The Napoleonic general Domenico Pino married Vittoria Peluso, a former La Scala dancer, and a mock fortress was built for him in the park of Villa d'Este.
• A course sown with wheat. Bogliaco, founded in 1912, was turned into a wheat field in 1934.
• A woman's name. Villa Aminta takes its name from the daughter of Giacomo della Torre.