Being avid polo lovers we always try to combine trips abroad with different polo matches around the world, and when a trip earlier this year took us to the beautiful island of Sicily, we were not expecting to experience anything remotely related to Polo. But then, as we were unsuccessfully searching the internet for any matches that might take place, we found that Sicily had its very own Polo stadium capable of seating 20,000 spectators – unusual for an island where polo is virtually non-existent and few matches are ever played, and particularly unusual for a city of only 27,000 citizens.

Work on the stadium commenced in 1985 and has yet to finish – It is a victim of Giarre’s many failed building projects where priority number one was to secure access to available funds from the regional government without putting too much into how and why the projects should be completed. More than 20 unfinished projects including a half-built swimming pool, nearly Olympic size and an amphitheatre are among the buildings never finished in Giarre. The stories have been covered in depth by international media including BBC, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and The Independent – all good sources for a more in depth read on the story behind Sicily’s unfinished building projects.

We managed to snap a couple of pictures of the Polo stadium in Giarre, despite the fact that the locals there are not too interested in the media coverage.

The polo stadium in Giarre

Last year a group of citizens in Giarre staged a mock polo tournament in protest against the large number of unfinished projects – it was the first time anyone had ever played a polo match at the stadium. See the video below for the highlights

Fancy watching a polo match in the idyllic Swiss Alps?

In about 6 weeks, the Hublot Polo Gold Cup in Gstaad kicks off. It’s a 12-14 handicap game and the teams have recently been confirmed and can be viewed here. Loads of Argentinians in the line-up as always!

The semi-finals are played on Saturday the 18th of August and the final on the Sunday, so it makes great for a long weekend getaway with beautiful polo, played in one of the most scenic polo playing fields in the world. And if you get a chance to do a bit of shopping, the centre of Gstaad has developed into the most popular and shortest shopping street in Switzerland offering plenty of opportunities to part with your money. And before you ask, Yes! There is a ‘La Martina’ shop with great polo gear, along with a wealth of other fashionable and chic outlets.

La Martina shop in Gstaad

Back in 2010 we were lucky enough to pay Gstaad a visit and managed to film a short video of the action on the field:

Alas, with an already jam-packed polo schedule there will be no trip to Gstaad for us this year, but we are happy to help anyone who would like to go. Feel free to comment and to use us as your tour guide if you so desire. We are at your service!

The full St Regis Cup match has been uploaded to youtube, so if you’ve got 45 minutes to spare it is definitely worth a look! If not, then you might want to have a quick look at our pictures from the day instead.