GUIDONIA, Italy — Approaching the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, chanting and clapping soared above the soft hills near the medieval castle owned by Lavinia Biagiotti Cigna. The colorful and loyal fans who flocked to the venue from all over the world for the three-day Ryder Cup were undeterred by the scorching sun, their antics a way to further express their passion for the sport.
Wearing fanciful looks — a Statue of Liberty was spotted — many of the 300,000 spectators lined up at 4:30 in the morning to be part of the activities. They were not disappointed as it was an intense competition between the European and American teams. The former eventually won the Ryder Cup on Sunday afternoon, after the U.S. team almost succeeded in a comeback.
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Biagiotti Cigna, who is president of the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, located in Guidonia, about 10 miles from Rome, and is president and chief executive officer of the Biagiotti Group fashion company, admitted she felt a “great responsibility and emotion; this is a project for the country, a big investment, and it’s a great opportunity for tourism and to attract capital to Rome and the country.”
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She emotionally said the competition made her feel even closer to her late parents, designer Laura Biagiotti and her husband Gianni Cigna, who at the end of the ‘70s bought the castle, restored it and built the golf course to prevent additional urbanization of the area, offering a service that would attract international events.
Breathing a sigh of relief as the organization went smoothly throughout the three days, Biagiotti Cigna posed gamely for photos with the teams and fans but she was already thinking of a post-Ryder Cup — no holiday on the horizon. “In these nine years, I have faced challenges, changes and important investments to transform Marco Simone not only into a facility suitable for hosting the third most important sports event in the world, the Ryder Cup, but also into a destination for sports, culture, nature and well-being built with a focus on environmental sustainability and respect for the territory,” she said.
She coined the “Playing the future” motto, “committed to growing the next generation of golfers, to develop and expand golf tradition at all levels with projects dedicated to families, children and to all those passionate of sports, offering agonistic or recreational activities in a protected context.” They range from the Junior Academy and the Agonistic Team to the Kids Club. “Grow up having fun,” she said.
At the Loro Piana lounge, beautifully decorated with all-around cashmere details on sofas, throws and pillows, where Loro Piana chairman Antoine Arnault and tennis champion Novak Djokovic spent some time, CEO Damien Bertrand said he saw many similarities between the brand he leads and golf, such as “tradition and a continuous pursuit for innovation, high-quality craftsmanship and a passion for perfection. Golf is a sport that requires precision, dexterity and absolute dedication,” which are mantras for the artisans at Loro Piana, he observed.
He noted that while golf can be a very individual sport, at the Ryder Cup “it’s about teamwork, passing the baton among the players,” in this way not dissimilar to the steps the artisans take working through the pipeline.
Strengthening a collaboration that began in 2016, the luxury label controlled by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton provided the official on- and off-course uniforms for Team Europe’s athletes and their entourages.
“Many of our clients play golf, so this is a way to be closer to them,” Bertrand said.
Loro Piana has dressed Ryder Cup golfers since 2016, balancing precious materials with technical properties, functionality, comfort and performance, he said. To this end, for the first time Loro Piana relied on 3D technology to simulate the clothing’s reaction during a swing, for example, and further guarantee ease of movement during play.
Italian tennis ace Matteo Berrettini and Justin Timberlake were among some of the guests at the lounge.
As it has since 2014, Ralph Lauren provided the U.S. team captained by Zach Johnson with vice captain and longtime Ralph Lauren ambassador Davis Love 3rd, with uniforms sporting a red, white and blue palette, outerwear and tailored clothing.
First played in 1927, this was the first time the Ryder Cup has taken place in Italy and was only the third venue in continental Europe and outside of the U.K., following Valderrama in Spain in 1997 and Le Golf National in France in 2018.