Andy Devaney
If you’ve ever thought golf travel should feel less like an airport conveyor belt and more like a film scene with better tailoring, La Dolce Vita Orient Express is attempting to make you look terribly sensible for thinking so.
A new luxury train experience with a wink to 1960s Italy and a nod to the original Orient Express legend, it now pairs slow, elegant rail travel with a closing flourish at one of the country’s standout courses: Antognolla Golf.
Following the announcement of their partnership in June 2025, Antognolla Golf and La Dolce Vita Orient Express are preparing to welcome guests on an itinerary that leans into Italy’s strengths—style, food, landscape and the unhurried pleasure of getting somewhere beautifully.
A luxury rail concept with Italian swagger
La Dolce Vita Orient Express is positioned as a celebration of “the glamour, creativity and lifestyle of 1960s Italy,” taking inspiration from the original Orient Express, first launched in 1883, and reworking it “through a distinctly contemporary Italian lens, blending design, gastronomy and slow travel.”
That last bit—slow travel—matters. This is not transport as a necessary evil. It’s travel as part of the story, where the journey isn’t background noise but the opening act.
The Golf Train and its two itineraries
At the heart of the collaboration is the new La Dolce Vita Orient Express – The Golf Train, with its two itineraries, Italian Swing and Northern Greens, announced in June 2025. The routes include stops at a roll-call of Italy’s finest golf venues, with the headline act coming in Umbria: Antognolla Golf, named Italy’s Best Course three times at the World Golf Awards.
The first voyage is scheduled for May 19th, 2026, and it’s being framed as a four-day immersion in what Italy does best—refined comfort, high-touch hospitality and a proper sense of occasion.
On board: suites, service, and serious dining
Guests will travel aboard “beautifully restored carriages that evoke the elegance of Italy’s golden era,” with “1960s-inspired interiors, refined suites and Michelin-starred dining” paired with “highly personalised service.”
The point isn’t simply that it’s luxurious. It’s that it’s curated. You’re meant to feel looked after in the way that makes you forget you’re being looked after.
Antognolla Golf: Umbria’s cinematic closing chapter
The four-day itinerary concludes at Antognolla Golf, “nestled in the Umbrian Hills,” and if you’ve never played golf in Umbria, imagine Tuscany’s quieter, moodier sibling—rolling contours, softer light, and a calm that makes you swing slower without meaning to.
Antognolla is “world-class” by design and reputation, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. course that uses the terrain rather than bullying it. Jones Jr.’s best work tends to feel like a conversation with the land—strategic angles, bold shaping, and greens that reward commitment while punishing indecision. In other words: golf that stays interesting long after the postcard moment fades.
And that’s what makes the destination globally distinctive. This isn’t just “Italy + golf.” It’s Italy’s interior—historic, agricultural, textured—delivered with a level of access and choreography that most golfers only get after years of planning and a small breakdown in a WhatsApp group chat.
Course architecture and design philosophy
Antognolla’s appeal isn’t brute difficulty; it’s intelligent variety. Robert Trent Jones Jr. courses typically ask you to choose your line and live with it. They flirt with risk-reward without turning the day into an exam. The architecture tends to highlight natural movement in the ground, pulling you into shots rather than forcing you into them—an approach that suits a landscape like the Umbrian Hills, where the terrain already has plenty to say.
The result is a course that can host big ambitions while still feeling playable for the travelling golfer who’s there to enjoy the experience, not chase a number like it owes him money.
Culture and hospitality beyond the ropes
What separates elite golf travel from “we played a nice course” is everything around the golf: the food, the setting, the pace, and the sense that you’ve entered a place with identity. With La Dolce Vita Orient Express, the hospitality begins long before the first tee—through design, gastronomy and service—and ends somewhere after your final putt, when you realise you’ve been on a trip that didn’t once require queueing behind a belt sander in security.
Umbria adds a different flavour to Italian golf tourism: less showy than coastal glamour, more grounded in landscape and local character. Think long lunches, serious ingredients, and a countryside that seems purpose-built for decompression.
How it stacks up against other elite golf escapes
The obvious comparisons are Scotland’s marquee links circuits, Portugal’s resort corridors, or Spain’s sunlit golf-and-sea combinations. What this itinerary offers instead is narrative coherence: a luxury rail journey that’s deliberately theatrical, ending at a course with genuine international architecture credentials, in a region that feels more discovered than packaged.
It’s less “golf holiday” and more “golf experience”—the sort that appeals to players who’ve done the standard routes and want something with a bit more character.
What the partners are saying
Rashid Alabbar commented: ‘This journey is designed for true golf enthusiasts; for those who want to experience Italy while playing on the country’s finest courses, including Antognolla Golf, recognised as one of the best golf courses in Italy. We look forward to welcoming passionate players and offering them the very best in Italian golf.’
Marco Girotto, General Manager at La Dolce Vita Orient Express, said: ‘La Dolce Vita Orient Express offers more than travel; it’s an immersion into Italy’s most refined pleasures. Our new Golf itineraries combine the elegance of luxury rail with privileged access to Italy’s finest golf destinations, including an exclusive round at the acclaimed Antognolla Golf course, offering a seamless blend of sport, culture, and refined leisure.’
The takeaway: golf as it should sometimes be
There are trips where you remember the score, and trips where you remember the way the light fell on the hills, the sound of conversation in a dining carriage, and the feeling of arriving somewhere the elegant way.
La Dolce Vita Orient Express is aiming squarely at the second category—golf travel that trades haste for atmosphere, and logistics for romance.
For more information about Orient Express Golf visit: https://www.orient-express.com/la-dolce-vita/itinerary/italian-swing/
Learn more about Antognolla Golf here: www.antognolla.com