Golf in Piedmont: Courses, Wine & Spa

Golf: two of Italy’s best courses, and one that isn’t

Piedmont’s best golf sits mostly outside the Langhe. Royal Park I Roveri in Turin’s La Mandria park is ranked No.1 in Italy (top100golfcourses, 2023) and was Robert Trent Jones Sr.’s first Italian design, built in 1971; it sits 1.6km from the historic Circolo Golf Torino La Mandria, a 1924 club with its own run of Italian Opens. In Alto Piemonte, Golf Club Le Betulle is ranked No.2 in Italy, Golf Club Castelconturbia’s 27 holes are regularly ranked top-10 in continental Europe, and Golf Club Bogogno adds 36 holes by Robert von Hagge below Lake Maggiore. Langhe & Monferrato, the wine capital, has four courses on our list, anchored by Golf Club Villa Carolina at Capriata d’Orba, and none of them makes this kind of ranking: here the golf fills the mornings between cellar visits, it is not the reason for the trip.

Barolo, Barbaresco, and further north

The Langhe cellars need no introduction: Gaja in Barbaresco, Marchesi di Barolo with its Cannubi cru, Vietti in Castiglione Falletto, Pio Cesare and Ceretto in Alba, Fontanafredda in Serralunga d’Alba, Bruno Giacosa in Neive and Giacomo Conterno and its Monfortino estate in Monforte d’Alba. Alto Piemonte’s wine is smaller and further from any tasting queue: Ioppa makes Ghemme DOCG, one of the Nebbiolo denominations north of Barolo that most visitors never reach. Turin itself has essentially no wine of its own, the closest cellars worth the detour are 90km away in the Langhe.

Thermal water in one place

Piedmont’s thermal water is concentrated in a single town. Spa Lago delle Sorgenti in Acqui Terme sits 1.4km from the Langhe & Monferrato anchor course and is the region’s only dedicated thermal entry in this guide. Turin and Alto Piemonte have none: if the spa matters as much as the golf and the wine, Langhe & Monferrato is the only base that delivers all three.

When to go, and which base

There is no single best month for Piedmont. May ranks first in Langhe & Monferrato, July in Turin, and September in Alto Piemonte, a spread wide enough that the season should follow the itinerary rather than the other way round. Choose Langhe & Monferrato for Barolo, Barbaresco and the region’s only thermal spa, Turin & La Mandria for Italy’s top-ranked course and a city base, and Alto Piemonte & Lake Maggiore for Le Betulle, Castelconturbia and Bogogno within an hour of each other, and the lake.