Olgiata Golf Club

22/09/2020

102

?? Leggilo in Italiano

The Olgiata Golf Club, important golf park a few steps from the Capital, becomes part of the Treasures of Italy 2020. A recognition for the foresight and management quality of a reality that carries forward the principles and historical values not only of a noble sporting tradition, but of one of the oldest territorial realities in Italy.

The Olgiata area has existed for over 3000 years. Scenario of multiple vicissitudes, at the end of the 1950s it saw the fabulous green oasis on the Cassia, a few kilometers from the Capitol, showing itself as the ideal place for the construction of a large new golf course, which was then officially inaugurated in 1961. Built on a project by the English Architect C. Kenneth Cotton, the main course is divided into two courses: the West course and the East course, for a total of 27 holes.
Structure of excellence classified by Golf Digest magazine, the most accredited in the sector, in first place among golf courses in Italy and among the top 100 courses in the world, Olgiata Golf Club offers numerous services, including swimming pool, fitness room, restaurant, in a suggestive environment surrounded by nature, welcoming and elegant. Not just golf, therefore, but a place to live in its entirety.
A treasure, the Olgiata Golf Club, which can represent an important beacon in an area rich in history and charm just a few steps from Rome, which deserves to be known and promoted.
The “Tesoro d’Italia” Certification is intended to be a recognition of the work that the President Stefano Iacobelli, the Vice President Gabriele De Gennaro and all the Club Directors carry out every day so that Italian golf maintains its prestige in the world and that the Club is a real place for meeting and discussion. A perfect balance between ancient prestige and the ability to adapt to the times and new challenges of the global market. Respect for tradition and a great desire for innovation and participation.

The Olgiata Golf Club was born, even before Green and Fairway, from an idea and a series of meetings held by some key figures of the time. When the first meetings were held – under the guidance of Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, Aldo Samaritani and Tullio Rossi – Frank Ruspoli, then president of the Federazione Italiana Golf, said that he would certainly lead the “Canada Cup”, a team world championship conceived in 1952 by John Jay Hopkins, founder of General Dynamics, to “encourage the meeting between peoples with golf” as an inaugural, propitiatory and good omen event for the birth of the new Capitoline Club.
The period was characterized by an important building development in the Olgiata area, by the powerful Società Generale Immobiliare (SGI) which held control of the subdivisions of the new Roman residential area.
Inaugurated in 1961, based on a project by the Englishman C. Kenneth Cotton, it hosted the much desired edition of the “Canada Cup” in 1968. Turning out to be an extreme success, the event has consecrated the prestige that the Club still boasts over the world.
The curiosity towards the new sports facility and the rampant well-being due to the “Italian economic miracle” of that period, meant that the newborn Club was frequented by hard-driving entrepreneurs, aristocrats, politicians, foreign dignitaries and high prelates; it is said that during the presidency of the IOR (the powerful Vatican Bank), until his retirement, the well-known Cardinal Paul Marcinkus was a regular golfer on this course.
Over the years there have been major sporting events, such as the “Eisenhower Cup” in 1964, two editions of the “World Cup”, in 1968 and 1984, and three editions of the “Italian Open” (1973, 2002, 2019).
Today, the tradition and the profound sense of belonging to the social colors, handed down from the elderly members to the new young generation, ensures that the club lives, day after day, a vibrant social and sporting life.