Call Cilavegna a high point and anyone from the Lomellina will laugh: this corner of Lombardy, between the Ticino and the Sesia, is about as flat as land gets, a vast chequerboard of rice paddies, irrigation canals and poplar rows. But stand on the bank of a canal in spring, when the paddies are flooded and the whole plain becomes a mirror for the sky, with the snow-covered Alps floating above the horizon, and you will understand why people love it. Locals call it the mare a quadretti, the chequered sea.
Cilavegna itself is a farming town with a church, a square and a reputation for asparagus, celebrated each spring with a festival. The Lomellina is one of Italy's main rice-growing areas, and risotto is the local religion. The rice fields also support huge numbers of herons, egrets and other wading birds, which nest in colonies in the woods.
Just to the east lies Vigevano, home to one of the most beautiful squares in Italy, the Piazza Ducale, designed in the late fifteenth century for Ludovico Sforza, known as il Moro, with arcades on three sides and a castle behind. Leonardo da Vinci worked on irrigation projects in this area for the Sforza court.
The riding is flat and straight, with long views and very little traffic. Surfaces vary, and some farm roads are narrow and rough. Watch for tractors, mud and mosquitoes in summer. Fuel and food are available in Cilavegna, Mortara and Vigevano.