8 nights with breakfast at Grand Hotel Imperiale and four green fees per person (2x Golf club Villa d Este, Menaggio e Cadenabbia und Monticello)

It was in the late 1960s that the brothers Alessandro and Giuseppe Panza of Biumo decided to convert a farming estate of 140 hectares, just a few kilometers south of Como, into a golf course that would complete a modern design residential complex surrounded by greenery. Easily reached from Milan, Monticello was created to be used by families: a place where adults and children would be able to practice extra-golf activities such as bridge, tennis, football and swimming. With its 36 holes – it takes pride in being the first to have them, in 1974 – Monticello is a continuing evolution, entrusted to different signatures – the last ones belonging to Jim Fazio, Baldovino Dassù and Graham Cooke. The clubhouse is instead the work of the prestigious architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni, a low building with an elongated and meandering shape which reinterpreted the Lombard farmstead in a modern key. The Red course – imposing and challenging – has been one of the historic venues for the Italian Open, played here seven times between 1974 and 1992 and won, amongst others, by the American Billy Casper and the Australian Greg Norman. The Blue course is shorter – and therefore more accessible to players with medium-high handicaps – with the front 9 which are level and rather open and the back 9 narrower and more delicate. Technical Details Course: 18+18 holes, Par 72/72, 6055/5842 meters Architect: Baldovino, Dassù, Graham Cook. Topography: from flat to slightly undulated, with small greens protected by bunkers. Distinctive features: The first shot is very important, when you play your handicap. The drive must be placed in a very strategic way. Pro’s comments Playing at Monticello is delightful and fun. The red course, made more challenging by the touch of Baldovino, amongst others, which changed the design of some greens a few years ago, is long yet flat and can be played by players of any age and level of skill. Holes 9 and 18 are indeed spectacular, as they end in front of the clubhouse with a huge lake which makes approach shots to the green more difficult and complicated.

There are places that remain untouched by time, enveloped in a special aura evoking elegance, tradition and good taste. The Circolo Golf Villa d’Este, protected by the woods of Montorfono and lying 20 minutes south of the Como city shores of the lake is one of these. This is true now more than ever, 90 years after those days in 1926 when English and American tourists – who had already chosen the Larian shores and their microclimate as their preferred holiday destination – began to tread the greens of the 18 holes that the shareholders of Grand Hotel Villa d’Este of Cernobbio decided to build, prompted by the requests of their well-heeled customers. The walls of the clubhouse designed by architect Giuseppe Bergomi – partly destroyed by fire in 1990 but faithfully reconstructed to the original, with hardwood floors fragrant of beeswax, the wood paneling of the bar and the incomparable terrace looking onto the course and the hills – narrate the most wonderful chapters in the history of Italian competitive golf: 12 Italian Opens were played here between 1928 and 1972, 57 editions of the Men’s International Championship and 39 editions of the Ladies’, to name a few. To understand the prestige of this club, we need only glance at the club’s record book to see the names that proudly appear there: for example, the Spaniard José Maria Olazábal, who before becoming the hero of many Ryder Cups in tandem with Seve Ballesteros, as well as captain of the victorious European team in 2012, the first of his two Masters’ green jackets, won the Italian Open twice in 1983 and 1985 on this narrow and undulating course designed by Major Peter Gannon Technical Details Course: 18 holes, Par 69, 5789 meters Architece: Peter Gannon Topography: Tee-off should be exact and straight. You’d better bring along with you a few more balls. Hillside locations make the game difficult. Distinctive features: From the peak of its 440 metres above sea level, this terrain offers good playing conditions also in summer. Pine trees, birches, chestnut trees characterize this course. A charming setting including a par 69 that ranks among the toughest ones in Europe: a true challenge also for the most experienced golfer! Pro’s comments An intriguing yet very complicated course to face if you don’t have experience or the right attitude. Its very deep bunkers and greens with very accentuated differences in level will greatly challenge inexperienced golfers. However, the Villa d’Este’s 18-hole course is a must on the curriculum vitae of any golfer visiting the Lombardy region. A few well-played holes are a guarantee of satisfaction: the enjoyment lies, for once, in overcoming the course’s difficulties.

For Italian golf, this club is synonymous with history. It was the dawn of the 1900s and Lake Como was a popular destination with elite Anglo-Saxon tourism. Included amongst its admirers was the engineer Henry John Mylius who, with some of his fellow countrymen, decided to build a small golf course. They discovered the right place at Grandola e Uniti, and founded the Golf Club “on the Menaggio and Cadenabbia side of the Lake” in 1907. Don’t miss the chance to visit this historic club and enjoy, in addition to its 18 holes, the clubhouse, warm and welcoming like no other with a lovely bridge room. The club’s pride and joy is its golf library which, with more than 1200 volumes – the oldest is dated 1682 – has one of the best collections amongst libraries on the subject in the world, so much so that even the librarian at the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland, the homeland of golf, borrowed some unique volumes to photocopy them. It is located on the Prealpine slopes sheltering Lake Como at 455 meters of altitude, and the difference in level is notable: there are continuous ups and and downs and, as short as it is, the course is quite delicate and demands great precision. This is a course that continues to maintain the technical features of golf from days gone by despite the changes made to it over the years, and players are constantly tempted to alternate powerfully aggressive and cautious strokes. Technical Details Course: 18 holes, Par 70, 5482 meters Architect: John Harris Topography: short course, narrow fairways Distinctive features: the second oldest golf club in Italy; it represents the spirit in which the game of golf is played. It evokes the spirit of the game Pro’s comments: The long history of the club and its extraordinary beauty reassure those who love and appreciate traditional golf that they are in the “right place”. But the last two holes, short yet very delicate par 4s, are a strong temptation for all golfers who are able to hit further than 220/230 meters with a single drive. Precise players can putt for an eagle, but the recklessness of an error of just a few meters will cost you dearly. Great fun.