Golf courses in Sicily

Sicily offers golf with a sense of theatre, played in the shadow of Mount Etna and along a coastline where the light, the sea and the volcanic land all leave their mark. The island's handful of courses make up in character what they lack in number. On the eastern side, Il Picciolo Etna Golf Resort climbs the dark, fertile slopes of the volcano amid vineyards, while I Monasteri Golf and Spa sits near Syracuse in a landscape rich with citrus and history. Across on the southwest coast, Verdura Golf and Spa Resort is the island's flagship, a generously scaled resort with holes running right down to the Mediterranean.

The Sicilian climate is a real asset: warm, sunny and forgiving, with a long season that makes spring, autumn and even winter golf perfectly viable when courses further north have closed. For the travelling golfer, that off-season warmth combines with everything else Sicily does so well, from baroque towns and Greek temples to fresh seafood, granita and powerful local wines. It is a destination for those who want their golf framed by genuine scenery and culture, played at an unhurried Mediterranean pace.