Montecchia Golf Club

Have you ever played golf? Need some practice?

Video full text: Montecchia Golf Club

Here I am at the Montecchia Golf Club and for the first time ever I am going to try and strike a ball, and play golf. But I don’t have anything to wear! It’s all so very complicated. What’s this thing, a club? There are all these trolleys, but I want someone to carry my clubs for me. Give me a caddy! I’m ready, but I need gloves! Just one? I need the golf balls! I need a club! I need a bag! With a caddy! Now I need a teacher! Shall we go? Slow tour around Veneto at the Montecchia Golf Club, I’m going to try and play golf. Who’s keeping score? Don’t laugh! This is the practice range, after which we’ll go round and play the holes. Let’s try the practice range, and find out how it’s done. Keep your arm extend to here, keep your eye on the ball. Strike the ball and follow through with the back leg to help the body rotate in the direction of the target. I did it on purpose! I watch the ball… I do like so… Wow! You’re the best. Am I a natural then? So it would seem, this will be my sport. So what’s so lovely about playing golf? One plays against oneself and against the course. One walks a lot and is always outdoors, even in winter. It’s a great game and if it grabs you it’s like a drug! I’d be here all the time. On a golf course, just like those in the movies where friendships are made. Even international ones. 200 metres? How long have you been playing? Ten years! Well done, I can’t even see where the ball has gone. Just as long as it goes in a straight line! If we were on the course you would now go and find where it has ended up. So let’s go onto the golf course as well! In the language of the game it’s called a green, that’s its name and what it looks like. I might just take up golf, because the grass here doesn’t need so much watering now. They have been experimenting with Patriot Bermudagrass here, it’s a very sturdy strain that requires very little watering. How lovely! I have been told that you are a champion Giorgio. Yes, but with cars not golf! I race cars and I play golf as well, I really love it. That’s because it’s a cerebral sport and is very useful for the concentration. It takes a lot of passion and a great deal of calmness. Calmness is something that really interests me! Even if one hits a bad stroke, one tries to recover with the next. A hole? You don’t say! What a lovely stroke! Is this the club used for putting the ball in the hole? We remove the flag. Emotionless, concentrated and calm. Cameraman, can I go? Are you ready? …I hit the camera but the ball still ended up in the hole! The line was perfect, the power perhaps a bit excessive. You have a future! The lens? Can you see everything clearly? Are you OK? Everything’s OK!

Produced in cooperation with the Official Tourist Board

Visit Padua: helpful hints

Italian name: Padova

Arrival

Padua doesn’t have an airport. The nearest airport for international flights is the Venice Airport, but there is a bus leading directly to Padua (rides every hour, 8,5€). For transcontinental flights the nearest airport is the Bologna Airport. From the airport, first you have to reach Bologna Central Station by bus (rides every 15 minutes, it takes 30 minuts, 6€). From Bologna Central Station, both Trenitalia and Italo trains reach Padua in 50 minutes (ticket 10€, more or less).

Transports

You can visit Padua on foot or by bus. Single ticket costs 1,3€ and it lasts 75 minutes, more on FBus website.

What to do

Padua is a stunning art city in Veneto region, close to Venice and Verona, in North Eastern Italy. It is famous for several art masterpiece that you simply must visit: start with the Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel and Saint’s Anthony church. The University of Padua is one of the oldest and most important in Italy and in the whole Europe, here taught none other than Galileo Galilei and you can still visit its original Podium.

For a special break, look for the historic Caffè Pedrocchi and ask for their fine special caffè (a long espresso coffee with fresh mint cream and chocolate powder).

For more tips, watch the whole web serie we made about Padua and if you are fond of SPA tourism (or you just need some relaxing quality time) consider to spend some time on the Colli Euganei area, nearby. Pick one of the several SPA resort and enjoy the Roman baths and muds (try Abano Terme or Montegrotto Terme). From Padua, you can also reach easily many other interesting places, take a look to this itinerary through the amazing Palladian Villas of Veneto.