Terre Dei Consoli Golf Club — Less than an hour north of Rome, one of Italy’s most prestigious clubs sprawls across the ancient Etruscan region of Tuscia, where world-renowned architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. masterfully wove 18 championship holes through olive groves and cypress trees. Here, Renaissance villas and medieval towns dot the hillsides, creating a backdrop where two millennia of history meet mod- ern golf architecture. Standing in my winter coat, I find myself puzzled by the golfers in spring attire, their only concession to the February chill being single gloves and casual caps.
The stark contrast raises questions about the calorie burning of the sport and the mindset that allows players to seemingly defy weather while calculating shots down rolling hills.These thoughts occupy my mind as I await Ascanio Pacelli, President of PGA Italy, television star, and great-nephew of Pope Pius XII, one of the 20th century’s most beloved and controversial pontiffs. “Ci prendiamo un caffe?” Pacelli suggests as he approaches.
When served water, he requests “Acqua da Vecchio” (room temperature water), gently correcting my preference for cold water with “ah, Acqua da giovane.” The distinction is rooted in science: room temperature water promotes optimal digestion by maintaining body temperature, reduces stress on internal organs, and allows for better absorption of nutrients. It also requires less energy for the body to process, making it particularly beneficial before coffee.
Soon, two golf carts pull up – a red super cart for Pacelli and me, and aregular blue one for my husband and photographer. What transpired openly and transparently was an unexpected impromptu interview across the sprawling course. I immediately ask about Pope Pius XII. “In our travels, people are shocked about my uncle being Pope,” Ascanio says. “In Italy, they care more about the reality show. When I was accepted into Big Brother I didn’t realize they wanted to use my lineage to manipulate me.” He explains, navigating the cart with practiced ease as he winds through a natural amphitheater of hills, with each hole offering strategic decisions influenced by the Mediterranean microclimate.
Inspired by the conversation, and eager to find out more, we arrive at the hole, the cart stops at a stunning vantage point over- looking Renaissance mansions. “As a general manager at Terre dei Consoli and a golf professional, I often observe players at the first hole to witness the devastating emotions before their first shot,” he reflects. “You can see those who approach like they’re bearing a cross, and others who haven’t yet discovered ‘la bellezza di questo sport’ (the beauty of this sport). In golf, you’re your own judge—you must respect the rules, which is especially valuable for kids. Golf helps you manage your demons, which come from your routine and daily life, not just from the game itself. And remember, in golf, you never hit the same shot twice in your life.”
Just as I was about to dig deeper, the moment is interrupted by a stark realization – we’ve lost the crew. After failed attempts at contact due to my limited cell reception while fighting embarrassment and fearing the worst, I imagined Tony and Alessandro pinned under the cart covered in mud.
Seeking a more balanced perspective I turned to Ascanio who was scanning the field incredulously, “What is the worst case scenario Ascanio, what could have possibly gone wrong?” Pacelli maintains his composure, scanning the vast course with a mix of amusement and perplexity, “They likely got lost, but how could they lose us, we are in golf carts?”
During our search for the lost crew, he shares stories about his time in Big Brother, meeting the love of his life, Katia, with whom no one would believe would last, and yet are the most longeve couple in reality television, his RV travels across North America, his love for Canada, and the TV series “Suits.” We eventually find Tony and Alessandro stuck in the rough, their cart immobilized by their unfamiliarity with its reverse function. A few laughs and back on the course, the photoshoot begins and a more formal interview transpires a few days later, giving me much food for thought on the power of golf from a human and well-being paradigm, longevity in terms of marriage and health, and much more.
Every time Ascanio Pacelli enters Vatican City, emotion overwhelms him. As great-nephew of Pope Pius XII, his Roman lineage carries the weight of both ecclesiastical and aristocratic history. Beyond the Vatican walls, his family’s influence stretched across Tuscany. His maternal grandfather was one of the principal developers of Forte dei Marmi, creating iconic establishments like La Capannina and La Bussola, while his mother’s family owned the stunning borgo of Castelfalfi until 1975.
Despite this illustrious background, Pacelli’s parents made a conscious decision that would shape his entire worldview, though their interpre- tation of “normal” took an unusual turn. “Since I was 10, they told me to be very, very normal,” he recalls. “Don’t forget who you are, but try to treat others like you would like to be treated.” Yet his father’s guidance deviated from the conventional path when it came to sports. “
All of my friends used to play soccer, ”Pacelli remembers.“ But my father said, ‘don’t play soccer. Soccer is not a game. Try to play golf.’ This was a pivotal moment in 1979, when golf was virtually unknown in Italy, especially for children. “Golf was really, really, really small as a sport and as a game, but especially for kids,” he explains. His father, himself a player, saw something in the sport that would benefit his son beyond the typical childhood pursuits.
Ascanio’s natural temperament made him an unlikely candidate for golf ’s methodical pace. “I am very impulsive, one who gets tired quickly, I get bored easily. I easily go and do something else,” he admits. “But with golf, it’s the only thing, together with my wife, that I wanted and continue to want to have.” This restless energy and desire for constant change would become both a challenge and a driving force in his life, making his dedication to golf all the more remarkable. It was precisely this contrast – between his impulsive nature and golf ’s demand for focus and patience, and pause – that would shape his journey and personal growth.
Golf would become his greatest teacher in humility, often through painful lessons. “I have had a lot of, really, a lot of moments where I said, ‘you are not able to go beyond. You’re not able, because your mental attitude is not prepared for this game,’” he admits. The defeats were particularly crushing: “I won’t forget all the tournaments in which I missed the cut, so I played bad, and the cries I spent on the way back to Rome.”
These moments of what he calls “mortification” — the fear of being judged, the constant struggle with self-doubt — became a crucible for his character. Yet even in his darkest moments, resilience prevailed: “In that moment I really said, ‘okay, stop, you have to stop playing golf because you can’t go forward, you can’t pass the ditch, you can’t pass the bar.’ But what happened in my mind that the next day I used to wake up and said, ‘okay, start again.’ Golf is this.”
His father’s approach to these struggles, however, left much to be desired. “My father, from this point of view, he managed the situation, behaved on the situation in a way that I really disliked,” Ascanio reveals. “Because he said, ‘you have a problem, go to the psychologist. If you have a problem, go to the nutritionist. He never helped me to raise the bar, to pass this bad moment.” Despite his father’s detached approach, or perhaps because of it, Ascanio did spend time with a sports psychologist, learning the lesson his father was trying to teach him all along that “if you have a personal trainer, you must have also a psychologist. Because it’s a muscle, you have to train your brain, you have to train your mind.”
Competitive spirit, particulary towards himself, and impulsivity marked Pacelli’s early relationship with golf. During a national amateur meeting before turning professional in 1996, his temperament got the better of him. “A stupid thing. Very, very stupid,” he admits. “I pick up one yellow stake from the lake, and I threw it inside the lake.” This incident would prove particularly consequential in his amateur career, foreshadowing the emotional challenges he would later face in both golf and reality television. The consequences were swift and severe. “Four hours later, I was on the train back to Rome.” The Federation’s message was clear: “You probably have a great talent. You will be a great player. But what you did, it’s absolutely bad for your position and for our federa- tion. So you’re out.”
The journey that followed was marked by what Pacelli describes as “mortification” – moments of intense self-doubt and humbling experiences. “I have had a lot of moments where I said, you are not able to go over. You’re not able, because your mental attitude is not prepared for this game,” he confesses. His struggles with self-control contin- ued throughout his career: “In my career, probably I broke more than 25 clubs. That’s all I can say.” These struggles led him to work with a sports psychologist who offered an intriguing insight: “Maybe if you decided to play another sport like box or something like that, you would have better results, you are too explosive… Golf needs more time. You have to think about what you’re doing.” Assuming a lesson was learned, I asked “Did that help?
Was that a wake up call for you? Or were you still resistant?” Ascanio’s response is tellingly honest, like the tattoos that tell his story. An open book. “It was tough. It has been tough,” he reflects. “I said to myself, ‘you are so close to obtain this position, and you lost it for something that makes no sense.’ ” He trails off, the memory still carrying weight years later. His hands clutched as if this were yester- day. His eyes still burning with regret. Yet despite the harsh lesson, Ascanio’s impulsive nature would resurface years later in a very public way. “I learned just for a month or two,” he admits ruefully, foreshadowing events that would unfold in the Big Brother house. His struggle with self-control, which thwarted his golf ambitions, was far from resolved. This pattern of behavior would soon humil- iate him again, but this time in front of millions of viewers.
Life has a way of creating pivotal moments in unexpected places, and Ascanio’s story demonstrates it clearly. While competing in a golf tournament in Puglia at Borgo Egnazia in September 2003, Ascanio received a peculiar phone call. “They called me saying, ‘Ascanio, we are the Big Brother, are you still interested in joining?'” he recalls. Confused, he replied that he hadn’t applied. It turned out his good friend to this day, Massimiliano, had submitted his name as a prank, recording a message: “I am Ascanio Pacelli, I am 31 years old, and I would like to audition for Big Brother.“
What followed was an intense screening process that felt more like a government investigation than a TV show casting. From October through January, Ascanio underwent multiple rounds of interviews with authors, psychologists, and producers who “tried to go deeper in my life, they tried to go deeper in what happened in my personal life, in my sentimental life as well.” The medical screening was equally rigorous – HIV tests, drug screenings, and mental stability evaluations were all required. “You have to be clean. Totally. You have to be mentally stable,” he explains.
From an astounding pool of half a million applicants, Pacelli began advancing through multiple rounds of selection, though the process was complicated by his family con- nection to the Vatican. “They tried to use the fact that I was connected to the Pope for gossip and I was shocked by this. It had nothing to do with it,” he remembers. His father initially opposed the idea: “I don’t want to see you inside the Big Brother house because you come from an important family. I don’t want you to be manipulated.” But Ascanio stood firm. “I am 31, I am confident to manage the situation and at the end of my experience inside the house I am sure you will be happy to see me in a differ- ent way,” he promised his father.
And with that, the deal was done and the show had begun…Well, kind of…“They first put me in a hotel that was one minute far from my apart- ment,” he recalls with a laugh, of the secretive final days before entering the house. “I thought, this is FBI, CIA, it’s not the Big Brother.” His entry into the house as the last contestant came with immediate drama: he was told he might be eliminated in the first week.
For someone with Ascanio’s restless spirit, the confinement presented more than just a challenge – it was a test of his very nature. “It was torture for me to be away from golf and confined in an apartment for thirty days,” he reflects. “I am a Sagittarius. The Sagittarius must travel, must be free, it has the legs of a quadruped that must run. That’s what made this experience extremely difficult. I like being with others, but I have to manage when to enter and when to leave groups of people. The people in the house were all different from me. Different cultures. Different habits.” This contamination of lack of freedom and lack of control over his social circle would prove to be one of his greatest trials, testing the limits of his self-control in ways that would echo his earlier struggles on the golf course… except this time live on television in front of the entire country watching his every move.
“I said to everybody, ‘Okay, I don’t want a bed because we were 13 and there were only 12 beds. I can sleep on the couch. No worries. But please, in the night, let me sleep.’” His request fell on deaf ears as housemates continued playing, throwing pillows, and shouting while he tried to rest. His frustra- tion mounted. Just as the yellow stake incident had revealed his tempestuous nature on the golf course, history would soon re- peat itself in the Big Brother house. A seem- ingly trivial incident would prove that his earlier lessons in self-control hadn’t quite stuck. “An apple was going to ruin everything…just like in the Book of Genesis.
There was only one apple for ten people,” Ascanio recalls. “I told this guy, ‘Please, don’t eat this apple. It’s just one apple. We are ten.’” When the housemate, Patrick, deliberately defied him, grabbing the apple and taking a bite, Ascanio’s temper erupted. “I was one meter far from him and BOOM— a swipe to the face.” The confrontation earned him an immediate summons to the con- fession room. “ I am cognizant of my mistakes and immediately asked for forgiveness, fully aware of the con- sequences. When I was walking toward the confessional, in my mind, I said, ‘you did the same, you did the same damn thing. Like that yellow stake.’” This time, though, fate would be kinder. Despite his outburst, the producers decided to keep him in the house, recognizing perhaps that his passionate nature – for better or worse – made for compelling reality television. “He provoked me to the limit, and in the end, the instinct prevailed.”
Inside the Big Brother house, Pacelli’s noble back- ground took a backseat to his authentic personality. Though his first few days were marked by conflict — arguing with seven out of 13 housemates over their noisy nighttime behav- ior — it was during this tumultuous period that he noticed Katia, describing her as “a flower
growing out of cement.” The metaphor carried deep meaning for him, born from past experiences. “Because of my previous toxic relationships, because of all the stories I heard from my friends, I was looking for someone different,” he explains. “I was searching for a person who was sensitive and genuine, someone transparent in both their virtues and flaws.”
In the artificial environment of reality television, Katia’s authenticity stood out. Coming from Chiesa Valmalenco, a small mountain town an hour and a half from Milan, Katia, Ascanio admits, “was like a character from Heidi — pure, genuine, raised near the funivia (cable car) and surrounded by the simplicity of mountain life.” Her father owned a marble quarry, and her mother embodied the unpretentious values of northern Italy. This stark contrast to Ascanio’s noble Roman upbringing would prove to be the foundation of their strength.
Their relationship blossomed slowly over 38 days before their first kiss. In a moment of clarity, Ascanio entered the confession room and made a bold declaration: “I’m quite sure that Katia will be the mother of my children.” What made their connection unique was precisely the unusual circumstances of their meeting. “We met in an environment where you see your potential partner at 6 a.m. without makeup,” he reflects. “When you accept each other’s flaws in such a setting, everything after is different.”
Their love story unfolded like a real-life Truman Show, with Ascanio leaving after 90 episodes and Katia remaining for 110. Those 20 days of separation revealed something unexpected. “When I was in the show, she wasn’t sure about us,” Ascanio recalls with amusement, “but when I was gone, suddenly she wanted me back.” He watched from outside as Katia struggled with his absence, their connection growing stronger despite the physical distance. Their first real date came five months after their initial meeting, away from the cameras that had docu- mented their early romance. “It was really funny because we were in Milano because Katia had a house there,” he remembers. “We had dinner and maybe we drank five or six mojitos each. It was like a first date. There were lots of people around, but none of those we’d spent three months with inside the house.”
Their courtship culminated in a romantic proposal at Parco di Roma golf club, bringing together the two great loves of Asca- nio’s life — as he often says, “Golf was my first love, and now it is my second only because of my family.” They chose the majestic 15th-century Castle of Bracciano for their April 30, 2005, wedding — the same venue where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes would host their lavish ceremony in 2006. While the Hollywood romance faded after six years, Ascanio and Katia’s love story has stood the test of time, far outlasting both the celebrity marriage and the skeptics who doubted their reality show romance could survive outside the Cinecittà bubble.Their family grew with the birth of their daughter Matilda Pacelli in 2007, followed by their son Tancredi Pacelli in 2013.
Ascanio’s father’s initial reservations about the Big Brother experience had transformed into pride. After the show, his father admitted simply, “You were right.” The reality show romance has evolved into a 20-year marriage that defies entertainment industry statistics. Pacelli approaches their relationship with the same focus he brought to golf, understanding that “every single relationship evolves every single day.” Always looking forward, but never forgetting his past, he admits, “I look back at all of the sliding doors moments from time to time. Just yesterday I was telling my son, Tancredi, about how I met his mother, and how if things hadn’t gone the way they did, even the disappointing moments, I wouldn’t be married to his mother and this interview wouldn’t exist today.”
What Katia brought to his life went beyond romance — she helped reinforce his understanding of family values. “Katia helped me to understand, first of all, the sense of the importance of family,” he reflects. “I have a great family, but I found a person that puts family first, not personal interest.” This priority align- ment created a strong foundation for their partnership. Their relationship thrives on transparency and mutual appreciation of life’s simple pleasures. “What I really love about Katia is that she’s so generous with others,” he says. Even after two decades of marriage, he still finds ways to surprise her, delighting in how “she still turns red; she still gets emotional when I surprise her.”
Together, they’ve built both a family and a business partnership, collaborating on media projects while maintaining their indi- vidual careers and putting family first in everything they pursue. The secret to their marital longevity, rare in the entertainment landscape? “Longevity is based on respect, not in the moment of love, but in the moment of war,” Ascanio revealed. “You can argue, but you remain in that context. You don’t have to use poison to affect the other person.”
Always in pursuit of new adventures and challenges, Ascanio embarked on a diverse career in television, film and media, appearing on the show “Real Fighters” and hosting the popular program “Il Treno dei Desideri,” among others. Pacelli also ventured into cinema, appearing in the Canale 5 fiction “Dov’è Mia Figlia” alongside Claudio Amendola, where he played the villainous role of a 12-year-old girl’s kidnapper. In 2024, he took on a role close to his heart in Maurizio Matteo Merli’s “Il Tempo è Ancora Nostro,” further demonstrating his acting versatility. The independent film, which premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, received endorsements from both the Italian Golf Federation and the PGA. The project was born from a vision to change perceptions about the sport. The film tells a nuanced story of two men from opposite ends of the social spectrum. Ascanio plays Tancredi, a charming crypto tycoon whose seemingly perfect life masks a growing void. Despite his outward success, the frivolity of his lifestyle is slowly destroying his family, particularly his relationship with his most precious treasure — his daughter.
His counterpart, Stefano (played by Mirko Frezza), comes from poverty and carries the weight of 20 years spent battling addiction and cycling through recovery programs. What unites these unlikely friends is their shared love for golf and their desperate search for redemption. “The point of the movie is that even if you are the Elon Musk of crypto, even if you are in a great position in the world of finance, if you miss what is important for you, that is golf, you are alone, you feel alone,” Ascanio reflects. The character’s journey mirrors aspects of his own relationship with the sport: “Tancredi decided to leave his job opportunities, to leave London, because he’s a golf player.
Even though he’s not a great golf player, even though he won’t reach the European tour, he felt like a golf player, and when you are a golf player, you want to play. That’s a reason to live. What we tried to work on is the fact that even though two different people, from two different social spectrums — I was born in an important family, and Stefano was born in the neighborhood, his father works in the golf club as a caddy master — the game of golf permits us to stay together,” Ascanio explains. “The passion, the love for this game is the same.”
The PGA’s involvement went beyond mere endorsement — they provided a coach for one of the actors, Michele Govodietz, training him for six months to ensure an authentic portrayal of the sport. For Ascanio, working alongside accomplished actors like Mirko Frezza and Andrea Roncato provided unexpected lessons in his craft. “I love to learn continuously about different things, and one thing I learned from this film is how to cry, even though you don’t want to cry,” he shares, describing the method acting techniques he developed. “Think about something that really hurts you, that really moves you. But not once. Think about it for two, three, four days.
So you will have the scene where you have to cry in a week. Every single day try to stay focused on something that really frustrates you, that really hurts you. And slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly it happens.” At its heart, the film carries a message about golf ‘s universal appeal and transformative power. “Try to communicate that this game is not only for rich people, it’s not only for 70-year-old people, it’s not only for people with a sweet body, absolutely not. It’s a game, it’s a sport,” Ascanio emphasizes.
He believes golf is a tool aiding personal growth and development for everyone: men, women and children of all cultures and backgrounds. “Golf permits you to be a better person, to fight against your inner monster, to make decisions, every single decision in different situations, to learn rules, to respect rules.” Now, Pacelli is determined to use his influence and popularity to change the perception of golf in Italy and make it more accessible to everyone. In his roles as the president of the Italian PGA and a board member of the Italian Golf Federation, he is actively working toward breaking the mold and promoting the idea that golf is an affordable and flexible sport for everyone.
Most recently, in 2025, Pacelli took on the role of host for the reality show “The Golden Bachelor: C’è tempo per innamorarsi.” As the host, Ascanio acts as a mentor and friend to the show’s lead, helping him navigate the challenges of finding love. “I’m the one who helps the Bachelor see something from a different point of view,” Pacelli explains, likening his role to that of a wise cricket, or “grillo parlante,” as they say in Italy. “I can advise him, because I have been in his shoes, literally,” he says with a smile. Drawing on his own experience of falling in love on reality TV, Pacelli relates to the emotions of the contestants and the bachelor, offering guidance and support throughout their journey. “I learned from this program that, first of all, love has no age,” he reflects. “20, 40, 65. If you fall in love, you fall in love, period.”
When it comes to physical fitness, Ascanio defies middle age stereotypes. Longevity seems to run in the Pacelli bloodline — his paternal grandfather Marcantonio II lived to the impressive age of 100, while his great-great- grandfather Marcantonio I reached 98 years old. At 51, the chiseled golfer maintains an aspirational physique and vibrant energy through a disciplined yet balanced approach to wellness that consists of two whole pizzas and half a kilo of gelato a week… Here’s how: Listening to his body and finding joy and creative meal planning in the journey. Pacelli rises with the sun, waking naturally around 5:30 a.m. each morning, attributing this early wake-up call to being “over the hill.”
The golfer’s fitness routine is varied and fun, rotating between playing 18 holes of golf, going for walks or bike rides, and doing focused 25-30 minute workouts from home. He believes Golf is the ultimate workout. “I don’t like those kinds of people who say, ‘I don’t like golf because it’s not a sport. I prefer CrossFit. I prefer yoga. I love to burn calories.’ When you play 18 holes, you burn more than 2,200 calories,” Pacelli points out. “So if you love to be in shape, if you love to be fit, you have to play golf. But to play well one must eat well, too.” Pacelli focuses on balanced, intuitive eating over restrictive diets. Breakfast might be low-carb bread with avocado, eggs, nuts and classic American coffee one day, Greek yogurt and oats another, with the odd piece of cake mixed in. “The food gives you what you need,” he asserts, enjoying rice, chicken, fish, even “two pizzas” (yes two whole Italian pizzas) a week for both nourishment and pure pleasure. “Just don’t have beer with pizza, because beer is like a pizza on its own.” His Sunday tradition: Curling up on the couch with his wife to watch TV and savoring “half a kilo” of dairy-free extra dark chocolate gelato.
Ultimately, Pacelli’s philosophy is one of prevention, discipline and joy. Twice yearly blood tests and periodic deeper exams like colonoscopies help him stay on top of his biomarkers. “You have to pay attention to what you’re
eating and drinking, thinking about you,” he advises. But perhaps more importantly, he emphasizes finding happiness in the habits themselves. “We create demons with our habits. You have to try to find something fun in what you’re doing. Listen to your body, not only for the workout but also when it’s the moment to eat… Your body gives you a lot of signals every single day.
That is very important.”
Giovanna: You are walking into St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, and you see your Great-Uncle, Pope Pius XII, immortalized in bronze next to Pope John Paul II’s crypt, how does it feel?
Ascanio: Every time I enter Vatican City, I’m overwhelmed with emotion. Being Pope Pius XII’s grandnephew has always been a great honor. When I first met Pope John Paul II, he told me, “Ascanio, Eu- genio Pacelli was a great pope, and what he did during World War II was incredible. He saved thousands of Jews. You must be proud of him.” During the last 30 years, and even recently, I’ve read many false statements denouncing the Pope as Hitler’s friend who did nothing to counter him. Now the truth has been revealed, and the process for Pius XII’s canonization has resumed.
Giovanna: What percentage of golf would you say is mental versus physical?
Ascanio: Golf is 70% mental. Every single moment you are thinking about the wind, you are thinking about uphill, downhill, you are think- ing about, “I feel today stronger or less than yesterday, or less than one hour ago.” And you have just 20 seconds to process all of this. I can hit from here maybe five shots, okay? With the same club, with the same ball, and the result would be five different shots.
Giovanna: You talk about observing players’ emotions and attitudes at the first tee, what do you mean?
Ascanio: As general manager, I often put myself at the first hole to observe players and witness their devastating emotions before that first shot. You see the one who arrives as if carrying a cross – but it’s not a cross, it’s a golf club. You see those who have not yet discovered la bellezza di questo sport. Vedi tante sfaccettature – you can see so many different facets. In golf, you are the judge of yourself.
Giovanna: What stories do your tattoos tell?
Ascanio: I dedicated my tattoos to those with whom I really connect: On my left shoulder, a Roman gladiator with a shield bears the Latin phrase “K usque ad finem” (meaning “till the end”) for my wife, along with a Polynesian Maori design featuring our initials, AK, done during our honeymoon in Taha, French Polynesia. A pin-up style portrait of my wife, Katia, adorns my left leg. Two old-style red hearts represent my children, Matilda and Tancredi. One tattoo honors Giorgio, a friend who died in 2013, while another commemorates Edo, who dealt with a physical illness. Pope Pius XII appears on my right forearm, Sir Lancelot on my neck, and King Arthur on my left forearm. Captain America is featured on my left leg. On my back is the mantra: “Always give without remembering, always receive without forgetting.” These are the princi- ples I live by.
In the paradox that defines Pacelli’s character, wealth is measured not in his aristocratic heritage, or in the material indulgences that it provides, but in the dividends of human connection—the silent acts of philanthropy, the extended hand to those needing fortune’s favor, the investment of time in others’ dreams, and in condivisione—sharing what he has with others.
Within him wars what he calls his inner beast—an impulsive, rash, and intolerant force he battles daily. These same traits that saw him break a yellow stake in rage and nearly come to blows with a housemate over an apple on national television—the very impulses that hindered his professional golfing aspirations—remain daily adversaries on both the course and in life, each swing a meditation on patience, each interaction a chance to tame his fiercer nature.
or those who dismiss golf as monotonous, Pacelli’s transparency reveals its true essence: a daily battle not against others, but against oneself. “Because every single shot affects the other,” he explains, drawing a parallel to life’s interconnected choices. “In golf, when you play bad, if you love this game, you hate everyone. You feel frustrated because you say, I failed. Sometimes I wasn’t able to use my intelligence, to be clever in that moment.” This inner struggle mirrors his own journey, where each morning begins with the raw acknowledgment of his unfulfilled professional dreams. “Every morning I wake up and say, fuck, I didn’t make it,” he con- fesses with characteristic candor.
Yet in losing his way to professional golf ’s promised land, he found an unexpected path rich with discovery—television stardom, the love of his life in Katia, and a dynamic career spanning PGAI lead- ership.While acknowledging these blessings, he will never shake his inability overcome mediocrity in the game. Pacelli attributes his shortfall to mental fortitude rather than physical limitations. “Maybe I have a great talent,” he muses, “but I haven’t had a great strong mentality to play this game. In golf, you have to be confident, but you also have to recog- nize the moment in which it’s better to be brave, and the moment in which it’s better to be safe. And this…is life.”
