Royal La Bagnaia

The Royal Golf La Bagnaia, Siena in Tuscany, offers fans of this sport an 18-hole course designed over 130 hectares of wooded hills and relaxing landscapes. The prestigious project was designed by renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. and skilfully created to blend with the ancient melody of the surrounding area. A choice that has promoted Bagnaia Resort to the top in Tuscany golfing circles and offers you one of the most interesting golf courses in Italy.

Poggio de Medici

Nestled in the Mugello hills, Poggio Dei Medici Golf Club boasts a captivating 18-hole course, divided into two sections: the first with a par of 37 and the second with 36. This course is designed to provide an exciting experience for both beginners and seasoned players. It features lakes, bunkers, streams, and clusters of trees, not only as technical challenges but also to create a visually captivating landscape. The initial 9 holes, along with practice facilities, were inaugurated in the spring of '94. The historic Villa di Cignano serves as the clubhouse, meticulously restored while preserving its 15th-century architecture.

Firenze Ugolino

The Golf Club dell'Ugolino lies in one of the finest parts of Italy and one of the most famous (especially abroad) for its landscapes and for human aspects too. Just a short distance from Florence, Chianti offers scenery of incomparable beauty, combining its gentle green cultivated hills with the presence of castles and farmhouses that bear witness to the deep-rooted love of the Tuscan people for nature. The many vineyards in these hills produce one of the world's best known wines with an excellent quality; several famous producers have enriched their centuries of experience with the latest innovations in wine-making techniques. The Ugolino Club has a prestigious 18-hole course, length 5728 metres, par 72, in the fine setting of the Chianti hills: in many points you can lift your eyes from your game for a moment and let them range over the hills on the far horizon. The first nine holes lie on a terrain with various differences in gradient, while the second nine lie on more level ground, though this does not make them any less demanding.
Comment read on the Peugeot Golf Guide
The Circolo Golf Firenze (Florence Golf Club) is the oldest in Italy but opened here only in 1933. Designed by Blandford & Gannon, it was subsequently altered by Piero Mancinelli. This is a very pleasant site with a great day's golfing assured. We would simply advise a buggy for players whose physical condition is not what it was, as the course is rather hilly. For today's professionals, Ugolino is doubtless a little short, but this is and excellent course for amateur tournaments, where accuracy counts for much more than brute strength. The par 3s are rather long, but there is also an impressive group of short par 4s, where you might be tempted to think about birdies. Whether or not you make them remains in some doubt, as the greens are generally small, well contoured and well protected. Ugolino is by no means an example of modernity but it certainly deserves a visit, even if a trip to Florence, one of the world's finest cities, leaves little time for sport. Certainly worth a try... together, of course, with a glass of local Chianti wine.

Le Pavoniere

The Golf Club Le Pavoniere lies 2 miles far from Prato, the ancient industrial and manufacturing centre very close to Florence that, especially in recent years, has become a leading figure on the Tuscan economic scene. Besides many important memories of the past centuries, the town of Prato also possesses one of the very rare Italian museums of contemporary art, the Pecci Foundation, where from time to time very important exhibitions are held of the works of the major world-famous artists of our times. The town lies in the plain, bathed by the river Arno and crossed by the motorway that links Florence with the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea and Versilia. The area around the club has many nurseries and is intensively farmed: it is rich in water which has been used on the golf course to create several obstacles. Filling material has been used to make the terrain gently undulating, while other features include a wood of holm-oaks, cluster pines and the ever-present cypresses of Tuscany.
A radical transformation changed the original 6-hole course into a fascinating 18-hole course designed by the famous U.S. champion Arnold Palmer.

Comment read on the Peugeot Golf Guide

After a good look at Florence, it is time to head west of the city and discover Montecatini Terme, a pretty spa resort for treating people suffering from too much Bistecca alla Fiorentina or Chianti, and particularly Prato, for many a year overshadowed by Florence but nonetheless a town of many attractions. Visit Duomo, the Palazzo Pretorio, or the amazing fortress of Castello dell'Imperatore. Or again, a few miles further on, play Le Pavoniere, opened in 1986 and designed by Arnold Palmer, as was Castello di Tolcinasco in Lombardy. You can feel Arnie's highly strategic inspiration, where hazards are very cleverly brought into play, and his excellent knowledge of players of differing abilities. All the same, the less experienced players might suffer a little here anyway. Although rather flat, the course is subtle enough to be played and enjoyed often, and the greens big enough to offer very many different pin positions.

La Bagnaia Golf & Spa Resort

Siena | Nights 1 – 2 – 3
La Bagnaia Golf & SPA Resort is located inside a medieval village, close to the adjoining Borgo di Filetta. 
Throughout the whole resort it is possible to recognise medieval references, indeed inside the buildings, rooms and suites have maintained medieval tapestries, antique furniture and pieces of art, but with a touch of modern technologies, as free Wi-Fi.
Inside the resort’s SPA it is possible to try various massages and treatments. The gym is complementary for resort guests.
The resort offers a fantastic 18-holes golf course created by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and a complementary gym for resort guests.

Hotel Berchielli

Florence | Nights 4 - 5 - 6 - 7
Overlooking the Arno River, just a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria, Hotel Berchielli, a recently renovated 4-star hotel, is one of the landmarks in Florentine hospitality.
Berchielli has maintained all the charm of a historical hotel and has had the honor of hosting such figures as Pablo Picasso, Vasco Pratolini, Romain Rolland and many others.
The Hotel Berchielli is distinguished by its rooms, one of which faces directly on the Lungarno degli Acciaiuoli, an elegant river bank that connects the Ponte Vecchio with Ponte Santa Trinita on the right shore, in the historic heart of the Tuscan capital and laterally on the small Piazza del Limbo, home to the oldest sacred building in the city: the Santissimi Apostoli Church.
A short walk separates the refined and elegant serenity of your room from the main Santa Maria Novella train station and the most visited tourist destinations of the city, from Piazza della Signoria to Palazzo Pitti and from the Uffizi Gallery to the Brunelleschi dome: from our hotel in the centre of Florence it will seem as though it’s all really your own private domain, a place in which to immerse yourself – or from which to separate yourself – in just a few moments, taking advantage of the best moments of the day to explore its many wonders.

Sant’Antimo Abbey

Sant'Antimo is an ancient abbey that has been inhabited by Benedictine monks for centuries. The present church was built in the early 12th century but the abbey's origins actually stretch back much further in time. It is said to have been founded in the 9th century at the time of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who is credited with founding the chapel – known as the Carolingian Chapel – now used as the sacristy or vestry. In any event, the abbey certainly existed by 814 when Charlemagne's successor, the Emperor Louis the Pious, issued a diploma endowing it with both property and privileges. We know that work began on the present church in the 12th century thanks to the Charta Lapidaria, an inscription on the steps of the high altar commemorating a donation made to the abbey by the Ardengheschi family in 1118. That year marked the start of the abbey's heyday and it was soon to become one of the wealthiest and most important religious institutions in the region, holding sway over numerous parishes, castles and manors.

San Gimignano’s Tower

During the Medieval Times there was a general idea of isolation. As a matter of fact this is the reason why all the houses that were built during those years were towers, house-towers! House towers, or casa torre, had very small and narrow windows, as their only purpose was to change the air.
San Gimignano is also known as the city of beautiful towers; in fact once there were 72 towers within the walls. Nowadays, there are 14 survivors left. There are actually three kinds of towers in the village: bell towers, always by the Churches, house-towers as already mentioned, and watching towers along the walls, which were used to spot the enemies and to defend the inhabitants from a protected height.
In San Gimignano the towers have nicknames! The main tower is the torre grossa (thick tower), it is the biggest and tallest, belonging to the mayor. The there are the torri gemelle(twin towers), which were built by one single family wanting to celebrate the birth of two twins. There is also the torre rognosa (angry tower), which earned the nickname because after the family left it, it was turned into a prison (with a lot of angry people in it).

Michelangelo’s David

Curiosities
Did you know that in Florence there are three copies of Michelangelo's David? The original sculpture of the David is in the Accademia Gallery of Florence. The second copy of the David is located in Piazza della Signoria (Duomo Square), just opposite the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace). The third copy is in the middle of Piazzale Michelangelo.
Did you know that David possesses the energy that characterizes Michelangelo's work? This wonderful sculpture transmits drama through its eyes with a body full of tension, the mark of its tendons, muscles and veins do not have violent gestures, but they are the elements that we can see in other works of this artist of the Renaissance.
Did you know that the gigantic Carrara marble block that was used by Michelangelo to sculpt the David was ruined? Three different artists tried to work in this block of marble leaving the work after having damaged it. The block of marble was in a state that no other sculptor wanted it, but Michelangelo accepted the challenge to sculpt it.

Why visit Michelangelo's David?
Michelangelo's David is one of the most representative works of the Italian Renaissance as well as being one of the most famous sculptures in the world. During the Renaissance, great Florentine sculptors such as Donatello, Ghiberti and Verrocchio carried out works by taking up the theme from the Bible where David is represented as a teenager, after having decapitated Goliath. However, Michelangelo decided to represent with this work the moment before the confrontation. So we see a young David ready to hit the giant holding a stone in his right hand with a sling resting on his left shoulder.
The tension of this young shepherd in front of his terrible enemy was represented by Michelangelo with details like an intense expression in his eyes, an accurate contraction of the muscles showing the veins in relief where it would seem that the blood ran. Definitely Michelangelo's David is a masterpiece of the history of Florentine art and one of the most famous works in the history of mankind.