The first eighteen of 36 planned holes at the Castelfalfi golf resort in Tuscany, Italy, will open this summer.

Golf architects Wilfried Moroder and Rainer Preissmann completed construction and seeding on the resort’s Mountain course last September, and have shaped the first four holes of the Lake course, which is planned for a spring 2011 opening.

European leisure giant TUI is developing the resort, which is set in 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres) of Tuscan farmland, will incorporate a castle-restaurant, a spa and other facilities, and will offer a winery and hunting as well as golf. This spring will see a start to construction work on the golf hotel and villas planned for the site. “I think this is going to be one of the most exciting resorts in Italy,” said Moroder.

For more on Castelfalfi see the forthcoming April 2010 issue of GCA.