City where grand designs are par for the course
When we sweep up to the I Roveri Club near Turin, there’s not another vehicle in the car park, not another soul in the clubhouse. Millionaire’s golf? More billionaire’s because Royal Park, as the Italians now call it, is the domain of the Agnelli family, founders of Fiat.
Until recently, the club was members-only – and hand-picked at that – but the Agnelli fortune is rooted in commerce. Following the opening of a second course on the site, the Pramerica, the first golf tourists were invited to play.
As we head out at Royal Park, it’s hard to find fault, beyond scorecards wrecked by Robert Trent Jones’s tough championship course. And anyone lucky enough to score a hole- in-one at the sixth wins a shiny Audi.
The last two holes run due north towards the Alps, but the mountains are much more dominant on the Pramerica course, which we played the next day. Designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, it’s a little easier than Royal Park but still challenging.
There is also gourmet food inside the clubhouse and cocktails at dusk on the terrace. Why would you ever want to leave?
But we must because the glories of Turin await. We stay at the Turin Palace and, between visits to the Lingotto building – the former Fiat factory with its rooftop test track – and the National Cinema Museum, we pause at Guido Gobino for handmade speciality chocolate drinks that do waistlines no favours. But after our exploits at two of Italy’s loveliest courses, we deserve a treat.