Santa Maria Maggiore

The small mountain town of Santa Maria Maggiore sits in the Val Vigezzo, a high Alpine valley in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province of northern Piedmont, pressed up against the Swiss border. This is a landscape of dramatic peaks, dense pine forests, and crisp air — a corner of Italy better known for its painters (the valley has long nurtured a tradition of fresco artists) and its slow, seasonal rhythms than for golf. Playing here means stepping into a setting that feels genuinely remote and unhurried.

A 9-hole layout with a par of 30 signals a shorter, likely executive-style course, the kind of venue built to serve a community rather than attract touring professionals. In mountain golf of this type, the terrain does most of the talking — elevation changes, tight corridors between trees, and views that reward looking up from your ball.

For visiting golfers, this is an opportunity to play somewhere that prioritizes place over prestige. The Val Vigezzo rewards the curious traveler, and a round here would be as much an experience of the Alps as of the game itself.