Golf in Sicily: Courses, Wine & Spa

Golf: one resort, two single-course corridors

Verdura Golf & Spa Resort is the reason West Sicily is on this map: 36 Kyle Phillips holes on the coast, named Golf World’s No.1 in Italy in 2022 and a Sicilian Open host. Etna and Val di Noto each have a single course, Il Picciolo Etna Golf Resort on the volcano’s slopes and I Monasteri Golf & Spa in the southeast; neither sits inside a wider cluster, so choosing a base in Sicily also means choosing which single golf experience, and which wine, to build the week around. West Sicily is 79km from Palermo airport, while Etna and Val di Noto sit close enough to Catania, 43km and 47km, to combine into a single week.

Nero d’Avola, Etna reds, and two names that need no introduction

West Sicily has the island’s best-known cellars: Planeta in Menfi, whose Santa Cecilia Chardonnay carries the estate’s name, Donnafugata in Marsala, maker of the Pantelleria passito Ben Ryé, and Tasca d’Almerita at Regaleali with its Rosso del Conte. Etna has a more recent reputation built on altitude: Benanti makes Pietra Marina, an Etna DOC Bianco Superiore from Carricante, alongside Passopisciaro and Pietradolce on the volcano’s north slope. Val di Noto’s wine is smaller and local, Cantine Gulino and Cantina Tenuta Palmeri, neither with a name that travels beyond the island yet, both closer to the course than any cellar in the other two corridors.

Spa on the coast and under the volcano, none in the southeast

Verdura Spa, Rocco Forte’s 4,000 sqm seaside spa, sits beside the West Sicily fairways. Etna has Torre del Grifo, wellness on the Catania side of the volcano. Val di Noto has no thermal or spa entry in this guide: of Sicily’s three corridors it is the leanest, built on Donnafugata Golf Resort and its 36 holes at Ragusa rather than on a full itinerary.

When to go, and which base

May is the best month in both West Sicily, averaging 22.5C with just 4.2 washout days, and Etna, cooler at 20.5C with 5.8; Val di Noto’s best month is June, the driest of the three at 28.3C and barely more than one washout day. Pick West Sicily: Verdura & Marsala for the resort course and the island’s biggest wine names, Etna for volcano golf and the Etna DOC reds, and Val di Noto only if the southeast coast itself is the draw: the itinerary around it is still thin.