Italy is not the obvious choice for a golf trip, and that is precisely its charm. Here the game is played against a backdrop of smoking volcanoes and Tyrrhenian cliffs, of Tuscan vineyards and Alpine lakes, on courses that remain blissfully uncrowded long after the rest of Europe
Italy is not the obvious choice for a golf trip, and that is precisely its charm. Here the game is played against a backdrop of smoking volcanoes and Tyrrhenian cliffs, of Tuscan vineyards and Alpine lakes, on courses that remain blissfully uncrowded long after the rest of Europe has filled up. You come for the golf and stay for everything around it.
This is a country that rewards curation. The standout courses are scattered from Sicily to the lakes, each with its own character and sense of place, and the art lies in stitching them together with the right hotels, the right tables and the right pace. What follows is our considered guide to the Italian courses we most love to build into a hand-built journey, from
Sicily and Sardinia: golf on the great islands
The Italian islands offer the most theatrical golf in the country. At the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort on Sicily’s southern coast, the fairways run along the Mediterranean itself, several holes pitched on the cliff edge with the sea filling the horizon. It is a resort of genuine pedigree and a course that asks for nerve as much as length, the wind off the water shaping every approach. A short drive inland and into another world, Picciolo Etna Golf Resort & Spa plays beneath the dark, brooding mass of Mount Etna, the volcanic soil and citrus groves giving it a character found nowhere else in golf.
Sardinia’s calling card is Is Molas Resort Hotel, long regarded as one of Italy’s finest parkland tests. Cradled by pines, eucalyptus and Mediterranean scrub beneath a ring of low mountains, it is a mature, exacting course that has hosted the professionals and still rewards thoughtful, position golf. For the player who wants championship credentials wrapped in island calm, it is hard to better.
Tuscany and central Italy: vineyards, art and unhurried fairways
No region marries golf and culture quite like Tuscany. La Bagnaia Golf & Spa Resort, set in a vast private estate just outside Siena, offers a rolling, beautifully conditioned course threaded through cypress avenues and olive terraces, with one of central Italy’s loveliest resorts at its heart. It is golf to be savoured slowly, ideally followed by an afternoon in Siena or among the Chianti vineyards.
To the north, near the medieval town of Scarperia in the Mugello, UNA Poggio Dei Medici unfolds across a green valley of vines and woodland. Generous yet shrewdly bunkered, it is a course that flatters and tests in equal measure, and its position makes it an easy partner to Florence. Further south, into the sun of Salento, Acaya Golf Resort brings the game to Puglia’s heel, a modern course laid through ancient olive country near the baroque splendour of Lecce.
Where our specialists would stay in Italy
Puglia: golf among the olive groves
Puglia has quietly become one of Italy’s most seductive corners, and golf has followed. Borgo Egnazia, the celebrated resort on the Adriatic coast near Savelletri, is the headline: a place of whitewashed courtyards and Mediterranean glamour, with golf set among ancient olive groves and dunes running down towards the sea. It is as much a destination as a course, the sort of address where you settle in for several days and let the rhythm of long lunches and late dinners take over.
Paired with Acaya in the Salento, Borgo Egnazia anchors a southern itinerary that is golf, food and architecture in equal measure. This is the Italy of trulli towns and masseria estates, of burrata and primitivo, and a hand-built trip lets you move between the courses and the experiences at your own pace.
The lakes and the north: water, mountains and grand-hotel style
Northern Italy offers golf of a different temper, cooler, greener, framed by water and mountains. Chervo Golf Spa & Resort at Pozzolengo, near the southern shore of Lake Garda, is among the most extensive golf resorts in the country, its courses rolling through moraine hills with the Alps as a distant backdrop. Closer to Milan, Le Robinie Golf Resort at Solbiate Olona is a mature, tree-lined course of real quality, an easy and rewarding round for those beginning or ending a journey in the north.
The lakes themselves provide the grandest setting of all. Base yourself at the Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees or the Grand Hotel Bristol in Stresa, with Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands at your feet, or at the Albergo Terminus on the waterfront in Como, and golf becomes one pleasure among many, threaded between boat days, lakeside dinners and the slow, beautiful theatre of the Italian lakes.
Our specialists’ favourite stays in Italy
What our golfers say
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Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to play golf in Italy?
Spring and autumn are the connoisseur’s seasons. April to June brings wildflowers to Tuscany and Sicily and comfortable warmth on the islands; September and October deliver the harvest light, softer temperatures and quiet fairways. The Sicilian and Sardinian courses, including Verdura and Is Molas, play beautifully through much of the winter, while the lakeside resorts around Stresa and Como are at their finest from late spring.
Which Italian region is best for golf?
It depends on the journey you want. Sicily offers drama, with Verdura on the sea and Picciolo Etna beneath the volcano. Sardinia centres on the storied Is Molas. Tuscany pairs La Bagnaia near Siena and UNA Poggio Dei Medici with vineyards and art cities. Puglia, with Borgo Egnazia and Acaya, is golf among olive groves and baroche towns. The lakes, with Chervo and Le Robinie, suit those who love water and mountains. We often combine two regions in a single hand-built trip.
Are my money and travel arrangements protected?
Yes. Golf Planet Holidays has arranged hand-built golf journeys since 1981, and we are ATOL Protected, with your money held securely in trust through PTS until you travel. That protection lets you plan an Italian golf itinerary, across resorts such as Borgo Egnazia, Verdura or Is Molas, with complete confidence that every element is secured.
Can you combine golf with non-golfing experiences in Italy?
That is where a hand-built trip excels. Around La Bagnaia we arrange Siena and the wine estates of Chianti; from the Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees or Albergo Terminus, boat days on Lake Maggiore and Como; in Puglia, masseria dinners and trulli towns from Borgo Egnazia. Your specialist builds the golf and the place into a single, considered journey.
Come and play with us
Wherever you're travelling from, you're welcome on a Golf Planet hosted tour — a small group, a host with you from the first tee to the last, and every round, transfer and dinner taken care of. You just bring the clubs.
