In Italy, the pairing of sport and travel has evolved beyond a rising trend, establishing itself as a new model for designing leisure time. The numbers speak for themselves: over half a million international visitors in 2024 chose Italy for holidays focused on sport and physical activity. At the same time, a wave of hospitality concepts has emerged, aiming to pair wellness and performance with an experience of the local territory. The Padel Resort, the first facility in Italy fully dedicated to padel and located just outside Como, is one of the most recent examples of this new kind of tourism offering — one that responds to changing needs, where a “vacation” is no longer synonymous with pure idleness and passive relaxation.

The project, strongly backed by the Parolini family, transformed a former industrial site into a contemporary leisure hub centred around sport. It includes 11 panoramic Mejorset padel courts (9 indoor, 2 outdoor), a Technogym-equipped fitness area, a 25-metre pool, and a four-star boutique hotel. A full programme of sports events and an integrated tourism offer complete the experience. Every space is designed to attract not only padel enthusiasts and semi-professionals, but also a new generation of active, wellness-oriented travellers. It’s a concept that speaks directly to a cultural moment in which sport is actively reshaping how we spend our free time. Italy is embracing this shift with surprising ease: while Jannik Sinner climbs to the top of global tennis rankings, padel continues to establish itself as both a social and sporting phenomenon, with more than 8,000 active courts across the country.

The Padel Resort fits into a lineage of destinations historically designed around amateur sport — a category once almost entirely dominated by golf resorts. These were long seen as the archetype of elite sports tourism: distant, contemplative, and tailored to a solitary rhythm. Padel, on the other hand — fast-paced, accessible, and inherently social — introduces a new grammar of leisure:  more urban, inclusive, and capable of absorbing contemporary cultural codes to shape new, widely shared habits.