The Monza club will host the women’s competition in 2026 and the men’s competition in 2028. On Saturday the memory of the president of the fifties and sixties, who changed Italian golf between polar expeditions and a vision of the future
Past, present, future. A Royal Park, that of Monza (the largest entirely fenced in the world), and a club immersed in its woods which will celebrate one hundred years in 2028. Few clubs have as much to tell as the Milan Golf Club, which in its beautiful history has managed to bring together people, ideas and facts of extraordinary quality. Among the founders, one of the fathers of the Italian industry was Giorgio Enrico Falck and Senator Giuseppe Bevione, considered the initiator of the Italian golf movement; and then the turning point in the fifties with Gianni Albertini, a personality on and off the pitch. President of the club from 1956 for fourteen years, he was later president of the Federation, but in the meantime he built the imposing club house designed by Luigi Vietti and gave the course nine new holes. What he did as a boy, however, before golf, was a memorable feat. Member of Umberto Nobile’s expedition and the airship Italia to the North Pole in 1928, he was among the few to survive after the crash on the pack because he remained on the ship, the City of Milan. But his companions did not leave him behind and a year later Albertini was at the head of a rescue expedition, also involved in scientific research. The men were not recovered, but his name will forever be linked to a fjord. The expedition’s support ship was called Città di Milano, just like a historic club race. Today there is a desire to treasure its history and to express novelty and modernity, with the usual style. A project that sees the club moving together with the Lombardy Region and the territory of the city of Monza. «Strengthened by the ten-year renewal of the agreement with the Consortium of Villa Reale and Monza Park, we have set up a long-term strategy with the Municipality and the Region, investing heavily in the competitive aspect», said Guido Camera, president of Golf Milano. The City of Milan Grand Prix is back on the calendar (selection competition for the athletes of the women’s and men’s national teams); the women’s Italian Open will be played in September 2026 and the men’s in 2028, after three successful editions (from 2015 to 2017), with Francesco Molinari winner in 2016. It was Gianni Albertini himself who brought the tournament to Milan for the first time in 1951. «It is important to enhance this beautiful sport which is so popular abroad, involving a wider audience of people here too, with these initiatives people”, said the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana (who has been passionate about this sport for years) during the press conference on Monday 17 November at Palazzo Lombardia. Federica Picchi, undersecretary of the Presidency with responsibility for Sport and Youth, was present and underlined: «We strongly support initiatives that enhance the memory of personalities who have been able to build solid projects, rooted in the territories and capable of generating sporting and cultural opportunities for many generations. Albertini interpreted sport as commitment, discipline, responsibility. Values that today more than ever represent a guide for Lombardy’s sporting realities and for the many young people who are approaching golf.” For his part, Guido Camera referred to the traditional values that Albertini interpreted best and which today drive the actions of Golf Milano, namely “resilience, fairness, respect for the environment, inclusion and protection of health”. And next Saturday, November 22nd, the whole day will be dedicated to the memory of Gianni Albertini with a round table which will also include the president of Federgolf Cristiano Cerchiai.