Italy is home to some truly outstanding golf courses. Add in the culture, cuisine, and plethora of beautiful accommodation choices, and you have a destination that rivals the best that Europe has to offer.
Here’s All Square’s countdown of the top 20 golf courses in Italy.
20: Menaggio & Cadenabbia Golf Club
Menaggio
Menaggio & Cadenabbia Golf Club is the second oldest golf club in Italy, with an old fashioned British feel. Overlooking Lake Como, the elevated tees provide splendid views in all directions.
19: Terme Di Saturnia Golf & Spa Resort
Saturnia
Beautifully set in Tuscany, Terme Di Saturnia is an undulating course where native plants and such wildlife as rabbits and deer have been left undisturbed.
18: Is Arenas Golf and Country Club
Narbolia
Sardinian course that’s laid out amid evergreen forest and sand dunes with the picturesque shoreline almost constantly in view. Is Arenas is superbly maintained with abundant water hazards.
17: Pevero Golf Club
Porto Cervo
Exquisite Robert Trent Jones design where the shoreline of rocks, sheltered inlets and forested hills along the Mediterranean coast makes for a visual feast. Plenty of water hazards and great variation.
16: Circolo Golf Ugolino
Impruneta
The natural contours of the Chianti slopes have produced an outstanding course, threaded through the indigenous vines, olive trees, maritime pines and broom.
15: Verdura Golf & Spa Resort – West Course
Sciacca Agrigento
Kyle Phillips designed both the East and the West courses here on the island of Sicily. The West in particular has the vintage feel of a seaside links course in England, Ireland or Scotland.
14: San Domenico Golf
Savelletri di Fasano
Undulating and aesthetically appealing, the landscape and the play here are enlivened further by views of the Adriatic Sea from each hole and the breezes that it generates.
13: Olgiata Golf Club
Roma
Re-styled in 2010 by Jim Fazio, all 27 quality holes are in a gorgeous parkland setting where the terrain is undulating and the fairways are divided by pretty trees.
12: Circolo Del Golf Roma Acquasanta
Roma
Draped in tradition and history, the excellent parkland course here is set across undulating terrain with superb views of the nearby Roman aqueducts and castles.
11: Castiglion Del Bosco
Montalcino
Designed by Tom Weiskopf, Castiglion Del Bosco reflects the surrounding region of Val d’Orcia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of rolling hills, cypress trees, vineyards and olive groves.
10: Circolo Golf Bogogno – Del Conte Course
Bogogno
Robert von Hagge designed the two courses here, the championship Del Conte and the Bonora. Del Conte is more challenging with abundant water hazards and rolling ground. Reminiscent of a Scottish links course.
9: Milano Golf Club
Parco Reale di Monza
Traditional parkland course with tree-lined fairways, sculpted greens and strategic bunkers, while the woods lend a serene, self-contained feel to the holes.
8: Golf Club Castelconturbia
Agrate Conturbia
Designed by Robert Trent Jones, there’s three loops of 9: the Yellow, Blue and Red courses, which can be combined to provide great variety. Undulating, plenty of water hazards, and large but tricky greens.
7: Golf Nazionale
Sutri
Golf Nazionale is home of the Italian Golf Federation. A George Fazio and Jim Fazio design, built on a rolling landscape where huge oaks line the fairways. Sharp elevation changes provide spectacular views over the Lazio countryside.
6: Circolo Golf Torino – La Mandria
Fiano
Circle Golf Torino has two courses, Blue and the newer Yellow. Both are English-style parkland layouts with natural streams, ponds and ancient trees which surround each of the holes. The Blue hosted the Italian Open in 1999, 2013 and 2014.
5: Circolo Golf Villa d’Este
Montorfano
Villa d’Este is one of Italy‘s premier resorts, the course here is set amid the numerous lakes that dot this part of Italy where the land rises to meet the Alps. It’s a splendid rolling, forested tract of wilderness with glorious mountain views.
4: Royal Park I Roveri Golf & Country Club
Fiano-Torino
Robert Trent Jones Snr-designed parkland layout with mountain views and his signature touches like extended narrow tees, sculpted greens, abundant water hazards and strategically placed bunkers. I Roveri Golf & Country Club hosted the Italian Open in 2010 and 2011.
3: Verdura Golf and Spa Resort – East Course
Sciacca Agrigento
Both courses here, East and West, were designed by Kyle Phillips. The resort is a splendid coastal site that has drawn comparisons with Gleneagles. The more undulating East Course travels by the coast with mountain views and its memorable, manicured holes offer superb variation.
2: Golf Club Biella Le Betulle
Magnano
Biella Le Betulle was designed by Englishman John Morrison in the late 1950s. Native ravines, creeks and ponds act as hazards, while hardwood trees fringe the greens and fairways. These features in combination with carefully positioned bunkers make for a real challenge. Set in stunning countryside along the slopes of the picturesque Serra Moraine. Superb.
1: Marco Simone Golf & Country Club
Rome
Host of the 2023 Ryder Cup, the redesign here was completed in 2021 by European Golf Design and Tom Fazio II. Boy, did they deliver! They created a course specifically for the drama of match play with a rerouted layout which created many exciting and memorable risk reward opportunities. Especially at the par-4, 304-yard drivable 16th, where Tommy Fleetwood clinched the trophy. Marco Simone also has lakes and elevation changes, providing glorious views of the Eternal City.
