QUINTESSENTIALLY | Insider | Tom Valeur Smith

This is my first visit to the Isle of Sicily. I imagined it like this, with the breathtaking views of Mount Etna, robed in pearly clouds as we descend into Catania Airport. I’m here for the five star golf experience, about an hour or so drive from Catania Airport. On this winding route, I sit back and let the hedonistic beauty of Sicily invade my senses – with its dry stone walls, vineyards, Baroque villages and country villas.

Ill Carrubo and Nero d’Avola in the Piano Bar

Arriving at the resort a little behind schedule, the pristine views were shrouded in darkness. The golf would have to wait until morning. Lead to our rooms, the seemingly boundless number of buildings gave Donnafugata Golf & Spa the feel of a self-contained village, at once modern, and, like some of the luxurious art hotels popping up in such places, in serene harmony with the fragrant shadows that lean in from all sides.

The hotel has three alternate dining venues, usually serving at different times of the day. The finest dining can be found at Il Carrubo, a restaurant which focuses on Sicilian cuisine – quite in keeping with the tranquil, new-old-world aesthetic of the resort, offering meals with a formal edge, accompanied by delicious local wines which leave one feeling wistfully quixotic. After dinner, my muse found reflection in the pool room, piano bar and a quaint chapel across the courtyard. To both the travel-weary and those with senses dulled by one glass too many of Nero d’Avola, the place can feel like a bit of a maze on one’s first night. Arrested at the hotels attentive semi-circular bar by those ever-friendly comrades-of-the-quill, I sat down for a few well made cocktails, in the knowledge that I had an early appointment with one of the greatest golfers of all time the following morning.

Golf for the Aesthete

From my notebook – ‘The golf is a little rusty. I will hit a few balls before my questionable golfing skills are exposed by the Black Knight. Many of my fellow golfers have had the same thought process and I meet them walking into Il Ficodindia – a high-ceilinged dining room, with chandeliers and handsome copper pipes running throughout, serving a vast breakfast buffet and rich espresso like only the Italians can do. Out on the Parkland Course, the morning dew evaporates with the first rays that creep above the undulating vista.

My first ball hooks wildly off to the left. I am quick to realise that my game is not what it used to be, but dark forebodings flutter away on site of the first flag. As my swing count accumulates, my confidence rises with the morning sun.

Between 9th and 10th there’s a clubhouse fittingly named the 19th Hole; we sit down and call our shots into question, the autumn sun telecasting my newly found red hue. The bar is best enjoyed whilst looking over the golf course, drinking in the calm of hills that roll along the coast while the sun sets, capped by something cold and sparkling.’

The Legend Appears

Gary Player is a golfing legend, an extraordinarily charismatic man and true crowd-pleaser. He’s on the course with us, launching the first ball, casually relating a short history of golf – inspired anecdotes that name-drop some of golf’s biggest characters, remarkable insights from a man celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first Masters win.

Fine first shot – both straight enough and a solid distance. Only then did Player appear, smiling encouragingly; ‘may I finish the hole with you?’ he asks, the sparkle in his eye intimating that he has been watching our approach from the sidelines, and knows a thing or two about making it cooler, smarter, slicker. Having a nine-time major winner standing over you as you negotiate a tricky approach shot doesn’t bode well for my club or shot selection.

Later, primed with Prosecco, the hotel hosts a reception (Sicilian food at its best, with fish that couldn’t be fresher), and I learn the brutal truth; my drive was working for me, but the following approach would need some work. I retired to the hotel bar to reflect on his words; savouring my now habitual Manhattan nightcap, I wondered whether I might not take advantage of the Sotogrande Golf Academy; if I couldn’t revive the pro circuit dream, I might at least improve my handicap somewhat.

This Side of Paradise

So preoccupied had I been with perfecting my drive that I had almost overlooked half of the reason this spectacular hotel was created in the first place.

Donnafugata’s Spa was awarded the “Traveller Favourite Overseas Day Spa for 2010” by Condé Nast Traveller. Making maximum use of natural light, guests unwind to wide horizons of green and blue as the remedy takes effect – lavish treatment rooms, a swimming area, three different types of hydro massage, steam room, luminous sauna and herbal teas in the chill-out lounge.

By now there was a true party atmosphere. We sat outside and made the most of the wonderful luxuries, aware that I had yet made it to the Greek necropolis of Camarina, the Roman Theatre at Syracuse, Noto, Modica, or the wonders at Ragusa Ibla and Scicili. And so it was that the stay was far too short, and we all pretended to ignore that this was our last night on Trinacria.

Sicilia Open European PGA Tour

Book now to drive out on the same path where the greatest champions of the European Tour played in the past Sicilian Open Golf tournament. Stay exclusively reserved and limited.

www.donnafugatagolfresort.com