Pian del Colle

Bardonecchia sits at the head of the Susa Valley in the Cottian Alps, about 100 kilometers west of Turin and just a few kilometers from the French border. It's one of Piedmont's most established mountain resorts, better known as a ski destination — it hosted the snowboard and cross-country events during the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics — but its summers are genuinely spectacular, with long days, clean air, and alpine meadows that open up once the snow retreats.

Pian del Colle is a high-altitude mountain course laid across those open plateau meadows above the town, where the terrain dictates everything: the routing follows the natural contours of the alpine landscape, the fairways play firm and fast in the dry summer air, and the surrounding peaks create a backdrop that makes it genuinely hard to keep your eyes on the ball. At elevation, the ball carries further than golfers accustomed to lower altitudes typically expect, which adds an enjoyable wrinkle to club selection.

This is golf as a seasonal escape rather than a year-round operation, the kind of course that draws visitors already in the valley for hiking or the off-season calm. The experience belongs to a small, distinctive category of European alpine golf — unhurried, scenically overwhelming, and a long way from the pressures of city life.