3 nights at Grand Hotel Terme & Spa with breakfast and one green fee

The Valsanzibio club is the firstborn among Padua’s golf courses, thanks to the support of an entrepreneur, Igino Kofler, who at the end of the Fifties, with a group of friends, wanted to create a course in order to enhance the tourist quality of the well known spa district of Abano and Montegrotto. Originally it was called “Euganeo Golf Club”, but the name is not the only thing that has changed in more than 50 years of history: the present Padua Golf Club, open to the public in 1962, has been extended from the original 18 holes designed by John Harris (Yellow and Blue). In 2003, indeed, 9 additional holes were opened: the Red Course, created by the Venetian architect Marco Croze. The fairways run at the foot of the Euganeas Hills in an outstandingly beautiful setting, a real botanical garden. In the Seventies, the club president was a nurseryman, Benedetto Sgaravatti, who embellished the naturalistic heritage of a rather barren ground with not less than eight thousands trees and shrubs, carefully chosen according to technical landscape criteria. The best background? That of the green of the 2nd hole in the Yellow Course, where you can admire the Diana’s Gate of the eighteenth century Villa Barbarigo: the garden, after your game, is definitely worth a visit. Technical Details Courses: 18 + 9 holes, Par 72/36, 5767/2824 meters Architect: John Harris, Marco Croze Topography: light hilly, many bunkers Distinctive features: in the middle of a valley at the foot of the Euganean Hills. It is mostly a parkland flat course with many water hazards. Thick vegetation at the sides of the fairways.