Italy is played as much for its surroundings as for its courses. Rome is home to Acquasanta, the country's oldest club, founded in 1903, and to Marco Simone, which hosted the 2023 Ryder Cup. The north has several historic clubs, among them Menaggio on Lake Como, where Golf Club Villa d'Este winds between pines and chestnut trees, and Bogliaco on Lake Garda; Milan, Bergamo and Turin round out the region, and Bolzano adds mountain golf facing the Dolomites. Florence, Perugia and Venice pair golf with cities of art. Further south, Naples, Apulia around Bari, Sicily at Sciacca and Sardinia around Cagliari add the sea and Mediterranean light.
Spring and autumn are the best seasons: April to June and September to October in the north and centre, March to June and September to November in Rome and the south. Summer is hot and best played early in the morning, except at altitude around Bolzano; winter stays mild in Sicily and Sardinia, where Is Molas, near Cagliari, can be played all year round. We arrange tailor-made trips: reserved tee times, private transfers, villas and palazzi, and tables worth booking as much for the cellar as for the cooking.
Bari, capital of Puglia, lends itself to a golf trip built around two 18-hole courses: Barialto, twenty minutes from the centre at Casamassima, and San Domenico Golf, a European Golf Design layout among the olive groves of Savelletri, about fifty minutes to the south-east. Come for golf beside the Adriatic, the masserie and Apulian cooking, ideally in spring and from September to November.
Bergamo, some forty kilometres north-east of Milan, is played from Golf Club Bergamo L'Albenza, 27 holes laid out from 1961 at the foot of the Alpine foothills and venue of the 1996 Italian Open, and from Franciacorta Golf Club, by Pete Dye and Marco Croze, amid the vineyards. Come to pair a morning round with an evening in the fortified upper town, ideally from April to June and in September and October.
Bolzano, capital of South Tyrol, is a city base for three courses between a quarter of an hour and forty minutes away by road: the 18 holes of St. Vigil Seis at the foot of the Schlern, Petersberg on a wooded plateau above 1,200 metres, and the nine-hole Eppan course among the vineyards of the Wine Road. Come to play facing the Dolomites and dine at the valley's restaurants, from May to October; the two mountain courses close in winter.
Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, makes a fine base for a golf trip in the south of the island: Is Molas, at Pula, about 40 minutes' drive away, is a 1975 championship course that has hosted the Italian Open four times; Tanka, at Villasimius, is about an hour away; and Is Arenas, on the west coast, makes a day trip of about an hour and a half. Golfers come to play almost all year round, ideally in spring and autumn, and to spend their evenings in the Castello quarter.
Florence has two 18-hole courses no more than half an hour from the centre: Golf dell'Ugolino, laid out in 1934 on the slopes of Chianti and host of the 1983 Italian Open, and Le Pavoniere, designed by Arnold Palmer on the plain of Prato. Golfers come to play in the morning and spend the afternoon at the Uffizi or in the Oltrarno, ideally from April to June and in September and October.
Lake Como, in Lombardy, gathers three clubs no more than twenty minutes or so from the town of Como: Villa d'Este (1926), record holder for Italian Opens, the 36 holes of Monticello, and Carimate, plus the Menaggio & Cadenabbia Golf Club, founded in 1907 above the lake. Golfers come to play tree-lined courses steeped in history by day and sleep in a lakeside villa, ideally from April to June and in September and October.
On the south-western shore of Lake Garda, around Soiano del Lago, three clubs lie less than forty minutes away: Gardagolf, 27 holes opened in 1986 and host of three Italian Opens; Arzaga, whose 18 holes were designed by Jack Nicklaus II; and Bogliaco, founded in 1912 above the lake. Golfers come for hill golf among vines, olive trees and cypresses, with the lake as a backdrop; April to June and September to October are the best months.
Milan has four leading courses no more than forty minutes from the centre: Golf Club Milano, 27 holes opened in 1928 in the royal park at Monza, Le Rovedine and Castello Tolcinasco south of the city, and Barlassina to the north, on the edge of the Groane park. All but Barlassina have hosted the Italian Open. Golfers come to play in the morning and return in the evening to the Duomo and the city's great restaurants and hotels, from April to June and in September and October.
Naples is above all a city destination: its historic centre, its museums and Pompeii come before golf, as Campania has no eighteen-hole course open to visitors. Two nine-hole courses welcome visiting players: Golf Club Salerno in Pontecagnano (about 1 hour 10 minutes by road) and Mirabella Golf Club, among the Mastroberardino family's vineyards in Irpinia (about 1 hour 20 minutes). Come in spring or autumn for a round or two between days of sightseeing.
Perugia, the capital of Umbria, has two 18-hole courses less than half an hour from its historic centre: Antognolla, remodelled by Robert Trent Jones Jr. around a medieval castle and host of the 2019 Italian PGA Championship, and Golf Club Perugia, founded in 1959 at Santa Sabina. Golfers come to play in the morning and spend the afternoon among Umbrian art, Torgiano wines and Lake Trasimeno, ideally from April to June and in September and October.
Rome offers three 18-hole courses between twenty and forty minutes from the centre: Marco Simone at Guidonia, redesigned for the 2023 Ryder Cup; the Acquasanta, Italy's oldest golf club, beside the ancient Appian Way; and Castelgandolfo, laid out by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in an old volcanic crater. Golfers come for a round in the morning and the city in the evening, ideally in spring and autumn, when the Roman heat eases.
Sciacca is a fishing port and former spa town on the south-west coast of Sicily. About twenty minutes to the east, Verdura Resort has two links-style 18-hole courses designed by Kyle Phillips, Verdura East Links and Verdura West Shore, on an estate that has hosted the European Tour's Sicilian Open. Golfers come to play facing the Mediterranean, from March to June and from September to November.
Turin has two of Italy's most celebrated clubs, neighbours in the royal park of La Mandria, about half an hour north-west of the centre: Circolo Golf Torino, whose Percorso Blu has hosted three Italian Opens, and Royal Park I Roveri, whose Robert Trent Jones Sr course has hosted four. Four 18-hole forest courses with the Alps as a backdrop, and a city of arcades, museums and Piedmontese cooking for the evenings; the best time to play is from April to June, then in September and October.
Venice has one course in the lagoon, the Circolo Golf Venezia, an 18-hole par 72 at the southern tip of the Lido, founded in 1928 and host to three Italian Opens, and two more on the mainland half an hour's drive from Piazzale Roma: Arnold Palmer's Ca' della Nave and Villa Condulmer, set in the park of a Venetian villa. Golfers come to play in the morning and return to the city by boat, from April to June and in September and October.
